 ELIZA
GILKYSON
Your Town Tonight
Red House Records 2007
www.elizagilkyson.com
What’s the 4-1-1?
The multi-talented folk artist releases her first live concert disc
recorded in Austin, Texas.
Genre
Folk / Live Concert / Adult Contemporary
The Good
I loved Gilkyson’s version of the Bob Dylan track “Jokerman”.
It’s really the only Dylan song I’ve ever really liked and
it’s nice to see an artist I like a lot pull off a wonderful live
concert cover it.“Tender Mercies” and “Dark Side Of Town” are
the two tracks I was most familiar with since they came from her truly
superb album Land
of Milk and Honey. She really does a nice job conveying the same passion evident
in the studio recordings to the live tracks.
I liked the introduction Eliza gave to the song “Rose of Sharon”,
she displays a quick dry wit as she cracked up the crowd and had me chuckling
right along with them. The way she paid tribute to her father, Terry Gilkyson,
was touching and heartfelt. She performed “Green Fields” and “Easy
Rider” in dedication to him.
The mostly mid tempo concert sounded fantastic, and Gilkyson was in a fine declarative
voice as well. “Angel and Delilah” was an up tempo track that stood
out with a sweet little harmonica contribution, and a slightly huskier vocal
delivery
from Gilkyson.
A nice closing touch to the album was the final track “Bare Necessities.” Yes,
the song made famous for the Walt Disney movie The Jungle Book. The slightly
more up-tempo and light-hearted romp was a great selection in which to finish
the show.
The Bad
There’s nothing wrong with the album musically. The one real thing
of note for me was that as a voracious liner notes reader, I found that
two of the songs were not recorded at the Austin location. “Tender
Mercies” was recorded in 2005 in Franklin, Massachusetts and “Hard
Times In Babylon” was recorded in 2005 in Holland. The songs themselves
were great, but having read the liner notes and seeing that they aren’t
from the same shows kind of ruins the illusion of the one single concert
performance for me. Sure, it is a minor nitpick but that’s just the
way the cookie crumbles I would say.
The Verdict
I’m a relative new fan when it comes to Eliza Gilkyson’s music.
Personally I would’ve preferred a couple more songs I was previously
familiar with but the selection of music for the concert was nicely done.
It ended up giving me much more of an insight into the treasure trove of
her music. I think if you are looking to sample some prime quality folk music,
it’s never a bad thing to check out anything from Eliza Gilkyson. You
can start right here.
Did You Know?
Eliza Gilkyson’s son Cisco Ryder co-produced this CD as well as playing
drums/percussion and singing for the performance itself.
Rating:  out
of 5
Related Reviews:
Eliza Gilkyson - Paradise Hotel
--Jay Roberts
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