It's been a long time since country music has seen an act as fresh and as
exuberant as the Wilkinsons. Steve, Amanda and Tyler are the Dad, daughter
and son combo that's been sent to reinject country music with glistening
harmonies, solid lyrics and soaring vocals.
The Wilkinsons understand that blood ties and blood harmonies are thicker and
richer than any amount of record company calculation. With Nothing But Love,
their Giant debut, The Wilkinsons not only make music that captivates, they
bring a sense of traditional values and being at peace with the way life
evolves.
Listen to "26›" and hear a moment from a life that speaks volumes about the
power of a mother's love. Sink into the beautiful "One Faithful Heart," a
gorgeous ballad that validates the most basic truth: the comfort of knowing
true love lives in the most common places. Or kick up your heels and unwind
to the joyous romp of "The Yodelin' Blues," which features swooping harmonies
and genuine yodeling.
"We just love music," says father Steve with a wry twinkle in his eye. "We
always have and we always will. That we're able to do this professionally
is a gift, because we were thinking about taking a break until Amanda was
out of school."
"And I would've just died," says Amanda, without a trace of the overwrought
histrionics one expects from a teen making this kind of a statement. "Music's
always been part of who we are, and the thought that we weren't going to sing
was just devastating."
"For me," she continues, explaining music's draw, "when we were singing when
Tyler and I were little, it was about seeing the reaction we got. If in 30
minutes, we brought any joy to people - and you could see it in the smiles
on their faces well, that was the best feeling in the world."
"And any time people would cry," Tyler picks up with a conspiratorial laugh,
"Amanda would get upset. She didn't like to make people sad."
It's this kind of freewheeling camaraderie that marks The Wilkinsons as much
as their drop-dead harmonies and focused song sense. For The Wilkinsons, what
you hear - and see - is most definitely who they are.
Genuine has become a word that sets off warning bells, so abused as it's
been in our modern world. But if there is a word to capture what sets this
trio apart in today's country music landscape, it's most definitely genuine.
Steve, who co-wrote seven of the songs on Nothing But Love, discloses, "We
live in a world where everyone tries to manipulate rather than celebrate
what is. I think that's a tragedy. For us, we're a family who still hangs
out together and we really enjoy each other. Maybe I'm still living in the
past, but I long for a time when parents were thrilled about their kids going
to the prom and all those rites of transition."
There's a fine line between wholesome and hokey. This is a real world we
live in, but it doesn't need to be so real that we rob our children of the
years when they get to be kids. They should be learning and having fun
without all the pressures."
Amanda smiles as she adds, "And Tyler and I are fine with being our age.
Because we're young, we can sing songs from an honest place about the things
that are part of our lives right now. We can sing about the innocence of
first love with the freshness that's part of it."
Indeed, when Tyler offers up a smoky interpretation of "The Word," it's
tempered with the tentativeness that's all part of the confusion of new,
but overwhelming feelings. The same can be said of the ache and conflict in
Amanda's alto when she addresses the insurmountable gap of the right and
wrong side of the tracks in "Williamstown."
Drawing on a heady mixture of everything from George Strait, Reba McEntire,
the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Dolly Parton to Patsy Cline, Restless Heart,
Linda Ronstadt and Garth Brooks, The Wilkinsons have a seamless sense of
what kind of country they make. Not easily categorized, it comes from hearts
that love this music and want to celebrate country music's vastness.
That wide-open appreciation, coupled with those singular voices and powerful
harmonies, has already been attracting major fans in some pretty high places.
Most of Nashville's best writers have lined up to write with Steve for this
project, because it gave them an opportunity to write the kinds of songs
that are honest about coming of age in this crazy world.
And when Vince Gill heard them sing, he promptly invited them to share the
stage with him on the Grand Ole Opry. "We were visiting in his dressing
room," Tyler reports, "singing and laughing and stuff. When they came in and
said, 'Okay, it's time to go on,' he looked at us and said," 'Well, come
on...'".
"It was incredible singing on the Opry stage with him!"
But things like that happen to The Wilkinsons all the time. Like Cinderella--
without the glass slipper and the midnight curfew--they came to town with the
most honest intentions and have become one of Music City's most talked about
new acts.
Of course, it's a long way from working construction as a contractor and
carpenter who was writing songs on the side for several Canadian artists to
being the object of a major label bidding war that included MCA, Dreamworks,
Capitol, Lyric Street, Arista and Sony. And that way was tempered with hard
work and a clear sense of what was important.
"Like every artist, I was looking for commitment," says Steve. "And a certain
level of enthusiasm. But ultimately, we're a family - and that was one of the
things that sets Giant apart. All the labels were great, but none of them
felt as much like a family structure."
That family structure sets The Wilkinsons apart, even as it holds them
together. Embracing life with hope and honesty, they're destined to carve
out a special niche for themselves.
"When the kids were growing up," says Steve, "they could sing the notes,
their pitch was good and they were always in the pocket. But my attitude was
that they needed to be able to connect with the songs beneath the surface,
too.
"People like to be introspective and to touch a place in themselves that
makes 'em feel good or sad, or even just remind 'em that we're human," he
continues. "There are a lot of songs that do that ... and those are the ones
we used to seek out or that I wrote over the years."
"That's the cool thing," continues Tyler. "You can see the people getting
lost in a lot of these songs as they're listening."
"You see all kinds of things when you look out," says Amanda. "There's
laughing, occasional tears, thoughtfulness. Dad says you get three minutes
to paint a picture and show people the feeling - and he's right.
"To me, it's all about making people feel something, especially better.
Because if you sing with your heart, that's where the connection comes. And
if you can't sing from the heart, you might as well not waste the breath."
Heart and Nothing But Love... it's not complicated. But for The Wilkinsons,
it works. Put on their Giant debut and get ready to have your faith in the
world restored.
