I track down Joe Wilson at a sweet two-story house tucked in the woods in Leelanau County. It’s daytime, so Joe is the daycare dad of his seven-year-old son Oliver, a friendly 2nd grader. Joe’s wife Emily is out digging in the dirt somewhere in The County running her Green Thumb Landscapes business. A brilliant dobro player, Joe gigs most nights in one of the many bands it takes for a local to piece together a living as a musician up north. Sundays it’s The Hot Biscuits at Martha’s Table in Sutton’s Bay, Mondays it’s Cabin Fever at Boonedock’s in Glen Arbor, some Fridays it’s the Joe Wilson Trio at Union Street Station in Traverse City, some nights it’s at Hop Lot in Suttons Bay, or the Aurora Winery with E Minor. Joe has schlepped his axe and his gear in and out of pretty much every full- and part-time music venue across the north. How did he make the choice that required not just talent, but patience, determination, luck, and moxie?