By Jaime Becktel
For The Mancos Times
Listening to Grammy-nominated Eliza Gilkyson's Beautiful World, a reverence for life fills the heart. The song is a spellbinding lullaby - a sonnet to Mother Earth and an apology for our leaden footsteps upon her.
Respected in Folk, Roots and Americana music circles and having received numerous Folk Alliance Music Awards and an induction into the Austin Music Hall of Fame - alongside legends Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt and Nanci Griffith - the singer/songwriter and activist narrates the peaks and valleys of our experience with the deep resonance of her honey-tinged voice.
Gilkyson grew up with music. Her father was songwriter Terry Gilkyson, who wrote and recorded music for Frankie Laine, Pete Seeger, Dean Martin and many other musicians throughout the 1950s along with his own band, The Easy Riders. In 1968, he was nominated for an Academy Award for The Bare Necessities, from Disney's, The Jungle Book.
She knew that she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps. "I wanted to get out into the world to sing and write about it and by 13 I was already playing guitar and recording."
Raised in Hollywood in the '60s, Eliza was influenced by Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Joanie Mitchell and her father. "My dad was a good lefty, so there's a strong political and sociological component to my musi," she says. "He was complicated, but he gave me a real love of nature, harmony, music and an appreciation for human issues that I've carried with me throughout my entire life."
Having the freedom to experiment in her father's Hollywood studio, Gilkyson found her voice in her late teens, writing and recording with various bands. When her father prompted a family move to Santa Fe, she turned her back on the industry to become a "back-to-the-land-hippie" and to "simply play music." Married young with two children, Gilkyson continued to write songs, allowing the West to influence her work.
After reaching the extent of what she could achieve in New Mexico, Gilkyson alternated between Austin and Los Angeles in an attempt to reinstate herself within the Folk music world. "Austin became my base to operate from in the West, and I fell in love with the music scene there."
Her album Hard Times in Babylon was picked up by Red House Records in 2000. She later received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album for Land of Milk and Honey. Her song Requiem, written as a prayer for those who died in the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, was recorded by the internationally recognized choral group Conspirare, whose version was nominated for a Grammy and won the prestigious Edison Award in Europe. Two of her songs appeared on Baez' Grammy-nominated album Day After Tomorrow, and with 20 recordings of her own, Gilkyson's songs have also been covered by Bob Geldorf, Tom Rush and Rosanne Cash.
She continues to remain actively involved with Austin's music and political communities, including the environmental organization, Save Our Springs, and she is a co-founder of www.5604manor.org, an Austin-based resource center that promotes activism around issues of race, patriarchy and global justice.
Gilkyson comes to the Historic Mancos Opera House on Thursday, Aug. 7 as part of her current with the Eliza Gilkyson Trio. Promoting a new album, The Nocturne Diaries, she performs with son and producer Cisco Ryder on drums and Austin guitar player Mike Hardwick. "I wrote the songs on The Nocturne Diaries at night. They're reflective, late-night, wake-up thoughts. The album gives a real sense of that time period where you're processing some of your greatest hopes and fears, such as 'What kind of future is in store for my grandchildren? Economically, psychologically, environmentally . what are they going to inherit?' The songs from this album are very much processing those questions, and if we deny them we cut ourselves off from the full panorama of what it means to be human."
Having been touring with the trio for 12 years, she and son Cisco have been performing together since he was a kid. "Cisco understands my music in a way that no one else ever will. I've given over a lot of projects to him in terms of production and he's really proven himself. He's now the one calling the shots, which has not been an easy transition, but we're handling it well and the experience has been extraordinary."