Send "Eliza Gilkyson " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Eliza Gilkyson has been making albums on and off since 1969, but it’s within the last decade that she has really hit her stride via releases such as Paradise Hotel (2005), Beautiful World (2008), and 2010’s Red Horse (with John Gorka and Lucy Kaplansky). It’s unlikely that many reviews of Gilkyson’s records appear without some sort of reference to Lucinda Williams. Those comparisons are easy because both women have lived-in voices that only seem to get better, stronger with age, and because both women found recognition hard-won. But the comparisons end there. Unlike her counterpart, Gilkyson appears to be just gearing up, something that’s evident throughout the 10 varied pieces found on Roses at the End of Time. Produced by her son, Cisco Rider, and featuring guest turns from Gorka, Kaplansky, and Sumner “Brother of Roky” Erickson, the album is an almost unqualified success. Album opener “Blue Moon Night” seems an obvious choice for the NPR spotlight –– hardly a measure of crass commercialism. The gently, twilight-soaked melody reveals its full majesty as patiently as a mirage, and at nearly six minutes in length, the track never wears out its welcome. And if a passing reference to iTunes smacks a little too much of the now for some listeners, then its successor, “Death in Arkansas” (penned by her brother, former X member Tony Gilkyson), is as timeless, down home, and seemingly effortless as Dolly Parton’s greatest work. The album hardly settles in before Gilkyson puts the pedal to the proverbial metal and moves to the open road for “Looking For a Place”, a welcome and respectable plea for sanctuary and solitude. ...full text |
| Allmusic |
| Eliza Gilkyson has been making albums for over 30 years, and she's the rare artist whose music revels in the lessons she's learned along the way. As a songwriter and vocalist, Gilkyson's recordings sound like the work of a woman who has been following her muse for quite some time, and while many musicians seem weary of the chase at a similar point in their career, if anything, Gilkyson seems significantly more lively and engaged than she did through much of the '80s and ‘90s. 2011's Roses at the End of Time is a strong, mature work that's also fresh, confident, and full of passion, and there are plenty of artists half her age who would be thrilled to sound as emotionally powerful as Gilkyson does on this disc. While her roots in folk-leaning singer/songwriter material are audible on tunes like "Vayan al Norte" (a compassionate story of the lives of illegal immigrants) and the romantic title track, she also delivers some smart and wiry rock & roll on "Looking for a Place," slinks along with bluesy swagger on "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," and pairs her tale of folks fiddling while their culture burns, "2153," with a whimsical but pointed musical backdrop complete with steel guitar and tuba. While Gilkyson hasn't shied away from issues on her post-millennial albums, Roses at the End of Time strikes a balance between the personal and the political, dealing with issues but putting their human consequences first, and that suits the heart and soul that Gilkyson has put into this music. Her son, Cisco Ryder, has done a splendid job as producer and engineer on this project, bringing together a fine ensemble of musicians and giving these songs musical settings that suit them well without distracting from Gilkyson's full and powerful vocals and literate lyrics. If a new artist released an album as strong and well-crafted as Roses at the End of Time as their debut, they'd likely be hailed as a major new force on the contemporary singer/songwriter scene; just because it's the work of a seasoned veteran doesn't mean it's too late for Gilkyson to be celebrated as a talent deserving of a larger and wider recognition....full text |
| Blurt-online |
| It's hard to eschew expectations about any new Eliza Gilkyson release. Every album is accompanied by the anticipation that would be appropriate around a veteran magician: Will she recreate the undulating heat of "Unless You Want Me Now"? Can she make her way back onto the high wire from which she unfurled the breathtaking vulnerability of "Redemption Road"? Both songs are from the 1996 watermark named for the latter. Since Redemption Road, prolific, occasionally brilliant songwriting has added flesh to her ongoing narrative. Gilkyson so handily weaves spiritual, political, personal, pop, country, and new wave influences and viewpoints into a folk patchwork that her followers unblinkingly purchase tickets for the ride. Her deft musicianship and intense vocals (like a more textured Patti Smith, with some well-placed huskiness, and minus the roar) brand everything she does. The effect's enhanced by a pop sensibility -- Gilkyson grew up around the music of her father Terry, whose compositions for Disney included "The Bare Necessities"-- and the knack of collaborating with top-drawer players. In 2004 she received a Grammy nomination for Land of Milk and Honey. This back story's being explicated because Gilkyson's one of the most talented folk artists in America - and, for years, relative to her talent, was relatively unknown. But what of Roses at the End of Time? The less-than-great news may be that Gilkyson has grown accustomed to her loyal legion of fans. Also, for the last decade, she's pumped out a new set approximately every two years. She performs a lot. Onstage, songs that go on for six or seven hypnotic minutes are enjoyed and appreciated. Happily (perhaps), Roses at the End of Time isn't any shorter on high points than Gilkyson is on listeners who are likely to sit intently through the more plodding and pedestrian interludes. The languor of the nearly six-minute opener, "Blue Moon Night," is saved from flaccidity by a gorgeous instrumental backdrop (Gilkyson on electric and acoustic guitars; Mike Hardwick providing sustained electric chords). But lovely guitar playing isn't enough to hold my interest in a rather stock, very sleepy, through-the-eyes-of-Mexican-farm-workers dirge, "Vayan al Norte." The seven minutes of a sympathy card to an abandoned woman, "Belle of the Ball," are enough enlivened by Cisco (drum loops, electric guitar, piano, and vocal harmonies) to provide what's probably a stunning live piece. Here, it's a stretch, albeit lovely; and most likely to appeal to listeners open to musing along over herbal tea -- or with herb in hand; headphones on ears. It makes me nostalgic for Sandy Denny - while her tracks, long or short, were coddled by the cream of progressive British folk, they hold my interest without any sort of herbal supplementation. Roses at the End of Time has considerable sparkle. Bolstered by bass and drums, "Looking for a Place" has a crisp gait that sustains inspired electric guitar chording and Gilkyson's casual, Dylanesque lyrics. It could be a Traveling Wilburys outtake. "Slouching towards Bethlehem" is solidly "down on the corner." The clubfooted shuffle and old-timey embellishment (trombone, Dobro, and pedal steel guitar) prompt a brainstorm: What kind of fireworks could Gilkyson create with Tom Waits? ...full text |
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