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A brief chat with Eliza Gilkyson


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Folk singer Eliza Gilkyson plays at Daniels Hall on November 7, so we jumped at the chance to have chat…F

Yellow Scene: You live in Austin – what’s the state of the current scene there?

Eliza Gilkyson: I’m on the road so much, I’m not part of the Downtown scene. I play maybe once or twice a year in Austin, but I appreciate very much that it’s become sort of a music Mecca. It really influences the feeling of the place and the economy, and I think those of us who live here feel a real camaraderie with each other, and we feel pretty darn fortunate.

YS: Do you enjoy playing Colorado?

EG: I sure do. I lived in Colorado, in the 1980s and late ’70s. I lived in Louisville. In those days, I had a little rock band and we’d tour the little ski areas. I have a lot of friends there. I also lived in New Mexico, for many years. It was our sister state, so all musicians from Santa Fey cross pollinated with our Colorado friends.

YS: Your dad (Terry Gilkyson) made music, notably for Disney, and your brother (Tony Gilkyson) has been in punk bands like X. Has your family influenced you?

EG: My dad, totally. Particularly melodically, and in terms of where he was coming from. He put a lot of himself into his songs, his emotional matrix, even though they were thought of as non-personal songs. “Greenfields” was about his marriage to our mother, which was a devastating break-up for him. With my brother, I was listening to Mexican music on the radio in LAS, and he went straight for the blues with Wolfman Jack.

YS: What do you have planned for the Denver set?

EG: I have a new record out, so there will be lots of new songs. I’ve been performing two sets and, during my break, I like to go to the front of the crowd with a pad and have them write the second set. We have a lot of laughs doing that.

YS: What’s next, after these shows?

EG: I’m going to go out with Mary Gauthier and Gretchen Peters, with a tour called “Three Women and the Truth.” Then I’m going to the Netherlands, and then I’ll start the next record.

Eliza Gilkyson plays at 8 p.m. on Friday, November 7 at Daniels Hall; 71 E. Yale SAt., Denver; 303-777-1003; $20-$24.

Author

Brett Calwood
Brett Callwood is an English journalist, copy writer, editor and author, currently living and working in Los Angeles. He is the music editor with the LA Weekly. He was previously a reporter at the Longmont Times-Call and Daily Camera, the music editor at the Detroit Metro Times and editor-in-chief at Yellow Scene magazine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Callwood

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