The full name is Don Lee Van Winkle, and he started in a popular Philadelphia band, the American Dream, whose 1970 debut was produced by Todd Rundgren.
His exceptionally moving new solo album comes after the sudden death of his wife, Kathy McDonnell. Recorded in Nashville with some of the city's top session players, "Great Unknown" moves easily between rock and country.
A deep vein of loss and longing runs through these new compositions. "Something's missing, you're not here / Still I'm waiting for you to walk through that door," Winkle sings on the aching country-soul ballad "Waiting." On the rocking "No Message From You," he confesses, "Visions of you keep rushing through my head."
Through it all, while Winkle lets his sorrow flow, he carefully avoids maudlin self-pity and gives the songs a universal resonance. And, cued by the anthemic title track, which opens the set, the ultimate sense is one of resilience rather than resignation, fueled by loving memories of what he once had. As he puts it on the closer, "Sweet Love of Mine": "The love we shared will always live here."