Red House Records (2008)

Listening to commercial radio in the New River Valley is often an unbearable experience. I occasionally listen in the car, but at home I just have too many options. There’s Pandora and LastFM, among others, on the computer. And as part of my DISH Network package, I have SIRIUS music channels. One day while listening to SIRIUS 30 The Coffee House, I happened upon Eliza Gilkyson, who immediately caught my attention as something interesting, refreshing, and unlikely heard on commercial radio—at least around the NRV.

Gilkyson’s Beautiful World CD was just released at the end of May, and it’s a great offering from this veteran artist that most folks have never heard of. I assumed she was a new artist, but Gilkyson has more than a dozen albums under her belt—most of a folkish variety. With Beautiful World, though, Gilkyson has a nice mix of pop and rock influences, but it definitely will be a favorite for those who like acoustic-based female singers in the style of Shawn Colvin, Dar Williams, or Patty Griffin.

With a warm and honest voice, Gilkyson’s songs offer simple messages of love, frustration, and joy. The second verse of “Great Correction” offers these poignant words:
People round here don’t know what it means
To suffer at the hands of our American dreams
They turn their backs on the grisly scenes
Traced to the privileged sons

Gilkyson said she wrote “Great Correction” “as a way to console myself as I grieve the devastation of the human and natural world.” Citing “Great Correction” as the first song written for the album, Gilkyson has said that “dark times can illuminate all that is good and decent and worth living for,” thus the title track, “Beautiful World,” a particularly positive tune.

Dark times are again the subject, though, in “Dream Lover,” a story about a young woman who has turned to pornography, in which Gilkyson offers:
Cause I’m your dream lover
Your wish is my command
I’m your dream lover
Better than a one-night stand
Dream lover
As close as the palm of your hand

“Unsustainable” has a feel similar to “Unforgettable” (and maybe a bit of “My Funny Valentine”) but offers a very different message. Gilkyson croons:
Unsustainable, unmaintainable,
We’ve gone too far and now it’s uncontainable
Let’s tear it down and start all over again

Widely known and respected in her Austin, Texas, home, Gilkyson is looking to expand her audience with a listener-friendly blend of music on Beautiful World. She brought a handful of solid musicians on board this CD to help her out, including singer/keyboardist Julie Wolf (Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Bruce Cockburn), guitarist David Grissom (Dixie Chicks), pedal steel player Cindy Cashdollar (Asleep at the Wheel, Bob Dylan), and others, including her own Austin-based band.

The collaborations work, creating a CD equally as good as background music or as an intense listening experience. If you have never heard of Gilkyson, as I am embarrassed to say I had not, then you should give her a listen.

Tim W. Jackson loves stumbling upon great musicians he’s never heard of.