One of the most original and influential folk artist of our time" " Paradise Hotel is simply a stunning album (5/5 stars). Her most recent CD is Paradise Hotel which has already made DJ Top Ten lists all over the US and Europe. "Masterfully structured, startlingly intimate songs in a beautifully lived-in voice" As a teenager, she recorded demos for her dad, and soon after she was writing and recording her own material as well.
It’s a bit of an odd finish in its direct recreation of the past (rather than a more knowing reconstruction), but it’s also a good reminder of how nice it can be to find home, whether old or new.The daughter of successful songwriter Terry Gilkyson, Eliza is a third generation musician who grew up in Los Angeles knowing that her life would revolve around music. The album closes with a crackly square dance, “CM Schottische,” a reminder of the simpler pleasures of a simpler time. As she sings of a “ blanket of stars,” she sounds as if she’s pulling a physical blanket up to her chin, those earlier wanderin’ hungers sated for a while. “Taosena Lullaby,” written by one of Gilkyson’s workshop students, lets the singer settle back into her home. The band could have, and practically did, stroll in from the rural West to cut a few updated cowboy tunes and then continue their rambling ways. The artists (and producer Don Richmond of the Rifters) maintain a warm and clear sound. The album, though maybe too tasteful at times, plays very well to its theme. A variety of musicians appear for an assortment of folk sounds, adding dobro here, pedal steel there. Gilkyson gets a couple songs from Americana band the Rifters, and she brings the trio in for harmonies. The whole piece avoids nostalgia while genuinely considering the changes we’ve live through both as a community and as we grow into a troubling independence. With that past gone, Gilkyson finds herself on her own, without older mentors to help keep her on a safe path now. Moore’s absence now feels like the loss of an era, and she mixes her wish to see her old friend with the end of a certain time. In her childhood, Gilkyson knew Charlie Moore as a wise older man with plenty to teach, and as the person who tracked her and her brother down when they got lost in the woods. One of the album’s high points, “Charlie Moore” honors a figure from her past. Songs from the River Wind draws an image of the West, pulling its mythology into Gilkyson’s contemporary experiences. That ability to claim and rework the past drives the rest of the album, whether through originals, traditionals or covers. The band’s performance here supports the vocal perfectly, keeping the energy up without giving way to glee so that Gilkyson’s pensiveness can come through even on the dance number. Likewise “Buffalo Gals Redux” puts a different gender slant on an old classic. She reworks the lyrics to present them from woman’s perspective, showing that she, too, has a yen for gathering no moss.
She adapts the old ballad “Wanderin’” to personalize it, turning a song her dad’s band used to play into something new. The album’s first two songs epitomize Gilkyson’s ability to bring tradition into the present.
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The album’s warmth and traditional sounds serve as a balm, but the artists’ professional performances maintain Gilkyson’s high artistic standards.
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Songs from the River Wind brings the songwriter back to her New Mexico roots with a series of tracks highlighting life and traditions from the West. Now she returns by going in a new direction: home.
Two years ago, 2020 was certainly worth a direct response, and Gilkyson’s album 2020 took a careful look at the world. Like a true folksinger, Eliza Gilkyson has long mixed the personal and the political.
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