06.28.05 (MusicPortal.com) It started with '26 Cents' in 1998, and now seven years later Canadian family trio THE WILKINSONS are back with their third album, entitled "Highway." Father Steve Wilkinson is convinced hundreds of other artists began their careers the way THE WILKINSONS did. "We started around the kitchen table," Steve remembers. "I would come home from work after hammering nails all day, and after supper I would have a cup of coffee and play the guitar." But how many of those artists would soon garner the attention of millions, creating a perfect debut CD and single and follow it up with three equally amazing releases? THE WILKINSONS are far from other artists, building a successful career on their signature "blood harmonies" and creative songwriting. "Amanda always had a voracious appetite for singing. She would run up to me as soon as I walked through the door and say excitedly, 'I learned a new song today. Can you play it?' She just assumed that I knew how to play everything. So I would learn it and then we would all sing. That was our past time." After singing for a friend's wedding, Steve and Amanda were approached about performing at a local fair. Things just took off from there. "People were approaching us about singing for this or for that. Eventually Tyler joined us on stage. That is when it all fell into place." In 1997, the father-daughter-son act were struggling to decide whether to move from their native Canada to Nashville to try to get a publishing contract. Just two weeks after moving to Nashville, they not only had a publishing deal -- they had nearly every major label in town vying to record their fresh, family harmonies. By the end of 1998, The Wilkinsons were the biggest new Country act of the year. Through their first effort, "Nothing But Love," the Canadian trio established themselves as an act with a firm grip on both the sound and the direction they wanted their music to take. From listening to their first single '26 Cents,' a song that tells the story of a girl eighteen years young with nothing but her mother's love and a crumpled note, it's easy to see why the group's self-penned tune garnered so much attention. '26 Cents' was the... [full story]
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06.14.05 (MusicPortal.com) Legendary long-lost Country music duo BANJO & SULLIVAN are being celebrated on the upcoming release of "Banjo & Sullivan - The Ultimate Collection," due for issue June 28th on Hip-O/UMe Records. It's a tragic story --struggling musicians who finally experience success only in death, that which they could never achieve in life. BANJO & SULLIVAN disappeared amid a series of heinous homicides and were basically forgotten - until now that is. Their story is being told in director Rob Zombie's latest film entitled "The Devil's Rejects," which Lions Gate Films is releasing on July 22nd. Now the duo are being rediscovered by a whole new generation due to the latter intense and exciting film. It's a story reminiscent of the success of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," except for the multiple homicide part. Such is the story of BANJO & SULLIVAN. Spurred by 'I'm At Home Getting Hammered (While She's Out Getting Nailed)' as heard on the soundtrack to The "Devil's Rejects" (also due June 28th), "Banjo & Sullivan - The Ultimate Collection" revives their long-ignored recordings. Kentucky-born guitar ace Roy Sullivan was a Nashville session player in the '60s before teaming with Adam "Fingers" Banjo, a banjo picker from Mississippi. Their 1972 debut album, "Two Silver Tongue Devils (Who Ain't Got A Clue)" was followed by 1974's "Wasted Banjos And Drunken Guitars." Sullivan then married Gloria Harrison, a respected studio singer, who joined the group on piano and backing vocals. In the Summer of 1975, 'I'm At Home Getting Hammered (While She's Out Getting Nailed)' hit #34 on the Country chart while the song 'She Didn't Like Me, But She Loved My Money' reached #23. In 1977, Banjo married backup singer Wendy Clark, who joined on backing vocals and tambourine. The next year, BANJO & SULLIVAN checked into The Kahiki Palms Motel after a rousing run of gigs, where their wives and roadie Jimmy Cracker were mysteriously murdered there by a group later dubbed as "The Devil's Rejects," after which BANJO & SULLIVAN were never found and have since been presumed dead. Oddly, after the murders and disappearance, sales of their latest album "Where The End Meets The Road" skyrocketed, selling more than 1,000,000 copies.
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[Country News: May 2005]
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