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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 freshfaced 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 Cents" 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."
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 has it been in our modern world. But if there
is a word to capture what sets this trio apart in today's
country music landscape, its most definitely genuine.
"I'm a born cynic," confesses Steve who co-wrote
seven of the songs on Nothing But Love. ""We live in
a world where everyone tries to manipulate rather than
celebrate what is. But I think that's a tragedy...For us,
we're a family who still hangs out and really does 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."
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, have 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 became 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.
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.
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.
