The Wilkinsons take enthusiastic Brockville crowd on trip down memory lane

I first saw Amanda, Tyler and Steve, aka the Wilkinson’s, live 23 years ago this summer at the North Bay Heritage Festival. We were all kids back then, especially so for Amanda and Tyler. The trio has gone through a number of iterations over the years including a run as duo, Small Town Pistols featuring just Amanda and Tyler, as well as a solo run for Amanda but they always seem to find their way back to the stage as a family and when they do it’s nothing short of magic and last night was no exception.

Last night’s show was postponed a number of times and I almost missed it be it not for me catching a Facebook post about the event the night before. Thanks to the gracious support of the staff at Brockville Arts Centre they were able to arrange last minute access.

There’s a reason The Wilkinson’s are one of Canada’s favourite country music family band, if not THE favourite. Even when it was just Amanda and Tyler or Amanda their dad Steve was always in the background writing and crafting hits for his kids and supporting them any way he could. This family has a remarkable and unbreakable bond and there’s no place it’s more evident than when they take to the stage, making for a show filled with stories, laughter and even some happy tears.

The songs that became hits for the Wilkinson’s were stories that we can all relate to, from the tongue in cheek sibling teasing in “Jimmy’s Got A Girlfriend” to the song that became the anthem for mothers / parents everywhere: “26 Cents”. Amanda and Tyler were just kids when these songs became huge hits but now 23 years later they’ve grown up, we’ve grown up, and suddenly the songs have taken on a whole new meaning. “26 Cents” is no longer a song sung by our mother to us it’s a song that we are now singing to to our kids.

For 90 minutes the crowd in Brockville was treated to an absolute power-house performance by Amanda who didn’t miss a note all night long. I’ve been to a lot of shows and seen a lot of artists perform but I can’t recall a time, recently anyway, where I’ve seen the music literally pass through an artist. With Amanda it’s like the music would possess her and travel through her body…you could see it rise up from the floor and travel through her it was fun to watch.

Even Tyler and Steve got into the action a couple of times showing off their own vocal skills. Amanda at one point even mentioned that she had been trying to convince Tyler to release his own country album…chatting with Tyler after the show he mentioned that, at least for now, that’s not something that’s on the radar but the door isn’t completely closed. They even premiered some new music with an amazing new song called “Limelight” that Steve wrote in Nashville…sadly, by the sounds of it, you’ll have to see them live if you want to hear it as there’s no current plans to release new music…as Tyler told me  “we’re having so much fun just hanging out and playing on our own terms”.

The good news is their schedule is filling up starting with a trip to St. Paul, AB this weekend for Centerfield Fest with Brett Kissel, Jess Moskaluke and more…you can find tickets for that event here: https://centerfieldmusicfestival.com/

If you do find them playing somewhere near you do yourself a favour and grab tickets and check them out, you won’t regret it. Best place to get updates from them is by liking their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/thewilkinsonsmusic

After the show it was nice to run into John and James Abrams, who we’ll have some news about very soon, as well as the super talented and wonderful and JUNO Award nominee Miss Emily.  Special thanks to Jonathan and the team at the Brockville Arts Centre for being so accommodating and working to get us into the show on such short notice. For a full list of upcoming events visit: http://brockvilleartscentre.com/