Stephen Wilson Jr.'s Late Dad Is 'More Alive Than He's Ever Been' Thanks to Musician's Song 'Father's Son' (Exclusive)

The stories of Stephen Wilson Jr. and HARDY originally intersected years ago, at a time when both artist’s careers were heading in opposite directions.

"His artist career was just starting to take off, and I literally had just put out my first song ever ['The Devil'] into a vacuum of 'nobody gave a damn,'" Wilson, 45, tells PEOPLE. "I just remember Michael reached out and was like, 'Dude, that song is incredible.' He got it instantly. The fact that he reached out put a lot of wind in my sails to keep doing this."

Today, the acoustic version of "The Devil" finds itself on the deluxe version his critically acclaimed debut double album søn of dad but will forever be the song that served as the initial connection between Wilson and HARDY.

"For a while, we just kind of mutually and respectively watched each other do our own thing," remembers the Indiana native. "We really had a very similar upbringing, very rural with hunting and fishing and all that stuff. I mean, we're different in a lot of ways as well, but we had so many commonalities right from the start."

And when HARDY was about to head off on his first big amphitheater tour last year, he called up Wilson to see if he would open for him. And it was during the last show of HARDY’s QUIT!! Tour that the two came together to perform Wilson’s soul crusher of a song "Father’s Søn."

"I remember HARDY walking down the catwalk and then he jumped in on the third chorus, and the place went crazy," Wilson remembers. "It was just this massive introduction [for the song itself] and people really responded to it."

Related: HARDY and Wife Caleigh Ryan Expecting First Baby Together: 'Our Favorite Little Secret'

Last year, the two record an acoustic rendition of the song "Father’s Son."

"We rehearsed it three times and pressed record on all three of them," remembers Wilson of the powerful rendition that now lives on the deluxe edition of søn of dad — at the same time as Wilson Jr.’s debut album enters yet another week in the top 10 of the iTunes country album charts. "I'm really proud of the performance and proud of the song. I'm just truly honored that HARDY would want to be a part of it and owned it the way he did. He didn't just phone it in."

Wilson draws in a deep breath.

"There's a lot of unexplainable in this world," states Wilson, who will continue his wildly popular søn of dad tour in February. "This song and this collaboration are one of them, and I'm just here for it."

Wilson says he also believes that it is this song, a song that he wrote following the 2018 death of his father Stephen Wilson Sr., that is helping him through his own healing process.

"I died with him," Wilson says quietly of his late father. "My identity and who I was and everything that I was died with him. And then with his death is a rebirth of myself trying to figure out how to live without him. If there's a blessing to it at all, that's the only thing I can see. You're trying to find any silver lining in the worst situation in the world. At this point, I'm just a stenographer of the pain."

Nevertheless, Wilson says he is thankful that so many people are getting to know the man his dad was, through the music.

"My dad is more alive than he's ever been," Wilson says now. "He was just this country boy in southern Indiana, and very known in my town, but nobody knew him outside of it, and now he's known all over the world. I sing about him all over the world. So, in a weird way, his legacy is more alive than it's ever been. For me, the music has just always been some desperate attempt to keep him alive."

Read the original article on People