The first chorus of Gram Parsons鈥� Return of the Grievous Angel ends with the lyrics 鈥淭wenty thousand roads I went down, down, down/And they all led me straight back home to you.鈥�
The lines seem to tell the Wilkinsons' story. Steven, Amanda and Tyler Wilkinson gained fame as a clean cut family country act in the late nineties and early two thousands. Amanda and Tyler then pursued solo projects and the family was in a TV show, before the siblings performed as the Small Town Pistols in 2012 (while Steve co-wrote some of their tracks).聽
About playing as the Wilkinsons again, Steve said 鈥淚 feel like a kid at Christmas.鈥� 聽
鈥淚 love these intimate theatre and arts centre shows because we get to interact with the audience, and people make requests from the audience, and it鈥檚 just great fun.鈥�
The Wilkinsons are on an eight-date mini-tour across Western Canada, playing a set list that features songs from their early days, along with Amanda鈥檚 solo work the Small Town Pistols, and new tracks.
The idea for the tour came after a January show in Winnipeg. The house was packed, and Steve said the band received three standing ovations. Promoter Justin Danyluk told the Wilkinsons there was interest on the prairies and arranged the tour.
Over the phone, Steve and Tyler have similar sounding voices.
Steve said when Tyler was younger, 鈥渨e鈥檇 get calls to the house from his girlfriend, and I鈥檇 pick the phone up and I鈥檇 say 鈥楬ello, how you doing?鈥� And the first thing I鈥檇 get would be 鈥楬i baby.鈥� I said 鈥楬old off on that baby just a little bit, this is daddy speaking.鈥欌��
Tyler recently returned from Nashville, a city that affected different stages of his career. Steve said the Wilkinsons鈥� first major label deal came from, in what is almost a stereotypical narrative, an impromptu set performed at The Broken Spoke in the city.聽
The Wilkinsons now live in Ontario. They keep trailers at the same campground and often play into the morning. 聽
About living in Canada, Tyler said 鈥渢he healthy competition you have in Nashville is gone. I wouldn鈥檛 say there鈥檚 less pressure because you have to put more pressure on yourself. You kind of have to be on your own ass the entire time going 鈥榊ou know what, if I want to make something happen I got to make it happen.鈥欌�澛�
In other ways, there鈥檚 less pressure in Ontario.
鈥淚f I just want to wake up in the morning and spend the day with my kids I can do that.鈥� 聽 聽
While sometimes viewed as a conservative musical centre, trends in Nashville mirror larger music industry trends. Tyler said he loves albums but he said 鈥渢here are a lot of people in this industry who are going 鈥榃e鈥檙e not going to record albums, we鈥檙e recording EPs,鈥� and we鈥檙e not too far away from people going 鈥榃e鈥檙e not recording EPs, we鈥檙e recording singles.鈥欌��
He said recording singles are usually the better financial option for signed artists.聽
鈥淵ou get more bang for your buck because your record label鈥檚 going to be putting more money into promoting your single instead of trying to make sure you鈥檙e recording a full album.鈥�
While the record industry is in constant flux, touring hasn鈥檛 changed much. Neither have prairie audiences.
Steve said the highwater marks for shows he鈥檚 ever done happened in Nebraska and Lloydminster. In some places, 鈥測ou get a polite golf clap.鈥�
鈥淏ut out on the prairies they tear the walls down. That kind of energy you can鈥檛 buy, you can鈥檛 invent it, and you feed off that when you鈥檙e on stage.鈥�
Steve said a new song he wrote with Tyler and Patricia Conroy called Limelight explains what he called 鈥渢he addiction that we have of being onstage.鈥�
Tyler said it鈥檚 not strictly the addiction of getting attention, it鈥檚 more the magic that happens onstage during performances 鈥渁nd you鈥檙e just taken to a completely different level.鈥�
鈥淚f you鈥檝e never experienced it you need to experience it,鈥� Steve said. 鈥淚 guarantee once you鈥檝e been onstage you鈥檒l go 鈥極h that鈥檚 so cool,鈥� you have to do it again.鈥�
The Wilkinsons will perform at the Dekker Centre on Aug. 30. Tickets are $45 and available online or at the box office. Local artist Bruin will open for The Wilkinsons.
