by James Cassara –

Born into a music family, growing up surrounded with well known friends of her father — the successful folk singer Terry Gilkyson — Eliza Gilkyson has always sensed what her path in life would be.

While her father was performing with The Weavers; scoring top-10 hits such as 1951’s “On Top Of Old Smokey” (and writing hit songs for performers such as Doris Day and Frankie Laine), Eliza and her siblings would sing together and “make up songs as we went along.”

One sibling is her brother Tony, a successful session guitarist and long standing member of the seminal rock band X as well as Lone Justice. She grew up in Hollywood, where her father would also contribute songs to a number of Disney films, among the rarified air of artistry that few of us can even imagine. Though uncredited, she can be heard singing with her father in the Disney TV movies The Secret of Romney Marsh (1964) and The Legend of Young Dick Turpin (1965).

Sister Nancy, herself a vocalist, would go on to become a top executive at Warner Bros. Records, one of the first women to do so. But the family affair doesn’t stop there: Her son Cisco is a touring musician and the producer of her latest album, 2014’s The Nocturne Diaries, while daughter Delia has also forged a career in music. Cleary there is much to say about the DNA running through the Gilkyson clan. As for Eliza’s career, it formally stretched back to 1977, with the release of her first album, and steadily gained traction.

While she’s never had that elusive commercial “breakthrough moment” her records rightfully receive consistent critical acclaim and her songs are steadily recorded by others. In the course of her career she’s released an impressive body of work adding up to 15 studio recordings, as well as a pair of live albums and accompanying DVDs. Along the way she’s shared stages and collaborated in the studio with some of the best known names in the world of folk/pop/rock.

When I spoke with Eliza via phone I was fighting a sore throat and barely able to speak above a whisper. She patiently fielded my questions and gave every assurance that I was on the right track, understanding her intent with the writing and recording of the record. Upon casually mentioning my unfamiliarity with much of her catalog she generously gave me a contact at Red House Records and told me to give them a call and have them “send whatever of my records they have” in my direction. That in itself speaks to the inherent kindness that is reflected in her music.

Rapid River Magazine: Talk about the genesis of The Nocturne Diaries. I’m intrigued by the notion of a set of songs inspired-directly or not-by the wee hours. It’s an idea that might seem obvious but I cannot think of another album so thoroughly immersed in that mood.

Eliza Gilkyson: The strange thing is that wasn’t my intent, I didn’t go in thinking I’d write a bunch of songs in what you’ve nicely described as “the wee hours.” But as I started to look at the new songs I came to realize that they’d all come from that space, where I’d be lying awake at night for hours with all these thoughts rolling through my mind. There was a certain restless nature to them that came out of that.

RRM: Were you going through a period of sleeplessness? Musicians lead hours that are very different from the rest of us.

EG: That was part of it. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, not really morose things, or thoughts of my mortality, but more concerns for the world at large. World events, the environment, just a feeling of “what kind of planet are we leaving for the next generation?” The ways in which we are abusing the earth really scare me. I look at my grandchildren and those are the weights I find myself carrying. I want to be clear that I am a happy person; I’m married, I have a great family, no major worries. Yet I still found myself lying awake with those feelings so at some point it made sense to begin putting them to song.

RRM: As I’ve gotten older I know I spend a lot of night’s trying to quiet down my mind. It gets harder and harder to not think about all the stuff we think we have to do.

EG: It really does. I’m a musician; I’ve trained myself to rarely go to bed before midnight. I might get a few hours sleep but I find myself waking up after a while. Fortunately I can sleep in later into the morning and be okay. Most people don’t have that luxury.

RRM: I’d like to highlight a few individual songs and bounce some ideas around. I love the imagery found in “No Tomorrow” of a blue light coming from the flat screen. Anyone who has ever lain awake at night can relate. I find there’s a temptation to be drawn into turning on the computer, phone or whatever device is nearby that is hard to resist.

EG: Yeah, we’ve become so wired to the world at large. That was the point I wanted to get across. It seems we’ve become so connected and not always for our good. I force myself to just lie there and see what happens; either I drift back to sleep or find a song in there somewhere.

RRM: That universe of social networking is further explored in “An American Boy” with the stakes being much higher. It’s also one of the few songs on the album that you wrote in a different persona. Is that a challenge to do?

EG: I was thinking about the isolation that person (in the song) must feel, and how too many of your youth act out that isolation in horrible ways. We read about these kids that feel so desperate, that there’s no place they can turn. And when they commit these crimes they often leave a trail on the internet. Three of my grandchildren are now in their teens, and they tell me how hopeless it sometimes feels to them. And these are kids who have very good lives, kids who are really smart, but at some level they feel powerless.

RRM: I think the kids of today are far smarter and more world wise than we were. I think by and large they’re pretty great but their world is so much more complex.

EG: That’s right, and they’re more aware of the problems in the world than we were. As to the second part of your question, about my writing songs not from the first person, I did challenge myself to try and break my routine. I tend to write a lot of songs about “me” and it’s good to get outside that. The other song written in second person was “Not My Home,” which is about a teenage girl wanting to get away from an unhappy situation. I gave it a happier ending in the finale verse in which she realizes she can walk away and live the life that’s meant for her.

RRM: I guess I completely misinterpreted the song, or at least gave it my own interpretation. I gather you and I are about the same age and it spoke directly to some of the middle aged concerns I feel: How we’d like to imagine we’re in control of our lives — but the truth is we rarely are.

EG: That’s wonderful, I love that you were able to see that song in an entirely different way than I intended. I find that so thrilling, when the listener is able to discover their own meaning in a song. It speaks so much to the power of the arts, to the ways in which we define community. Thank you James, I really appreciate that you heard it that way.

RRM: “Eliza Jane” is a remarkably upbeat song on an album that tends towards a somber, more reflective vibe. I assume it’s an older Eliza Gilkyson talking to a younger one. There’s a lot of emotional weight there.

EG: (Laughs a bit) It’s the idea of one side of me warning the other, what to watch out for in life, how to navigate things. That was also a fun song to record. All the musicians were having a great time, and it shows.

RRM: That seems like a good time to switch gears a bit. Can you talk about the role that Cisco played? Many of the songs have only three or four players and some pretty sparse instrumentation, but the sound of The Nocturne Diaries is amazing rich and varied.

EG: He did an amazing job. He’s been playing drums with me since he was about 16, and really knows how to make a song work. Not so much in a “we’ve had three slow songs so now we need a fast one” way but in digging out the vibe of a song.

RRM: Were there ever times you disagreed over a song, you wanting it to go one way and he wanting it to go another? I mean you’re his mother. Did you ever have to pull rank?

EG: Never. That might have been the case 20 years ago but he’s 43, a grown man and he holds his own. It really comes down to making the right decisions about the song. If we disagreed we’d both talk it out and do what was best in musical terms. He knows so much about music and about how to make records, things I was never that concerned with (at his age). We’ve started making plans for a new record and I again find myself listening to his ideas. His perspective is much broader than mine and I rely on that.

RRM: You grew up in the sort of artistic household that many of us can only dream about. Did you feel preordained towards music? Was there ever a time you didn’t want to do this?

EG: I might have rebelled against the kind of music my dad listened to and wrote but never against the idea of being a musician. Part of that was timing. When I was old enough to start making my own music the type of folk stuff he did was on the wane. This was the late 1960’s and I was into psychedelics, both the music and all that it implies. I went through various phases of music, exploring different styles, and eventually found my voice.

RRM: And now Cisco has followed in those footsteps. I’m curious as to whether or not you nudged him in that direction or perhaps away from it.

EG: It never really came up. As I said he was making music from a really young age, touring by his mid teens. He makes music that is way outside what I do; he plays in a cowboy punk band and does these other things. He listens to music I might not ever hear but that’s cool. Sometimes he shares it with me. What matters to Cisco is that the music is authentic, that it’s free of pretense. He brings a great deal of authenticity to everything he does.

RRM: Talk a bit about the show at Altamonte. If you’re not familiar with the theatre it’s very intimate, with really great acoustics. Will you be playing solo?

EG: I’m bringing along a great guitarist and multi-instrumentalist named Jim Henry. I find it works so much better to have someone to bounce ideas off of. It’s a lot more fun. Strangely I’ve never played Asheville before, I’ve always wanted to but it’s never quite worked out. I’ve lived in Santa Fe and now live in Austin. From everything I’ve read and heard Asheville has a similar artistic vibe as those places. I look forward to seeing it.

RRM: One last question. You have an amazingly rich body of songs and I must admit that I’ve a lot of catching up to do. I hadn’t realized you’d written “Rosie Strike Back” which Roseanne Cash recorded. How did that song fall into her hands?

EG: We had the same publisher. That was a really brave thing for her to do. At the time I wrote it (1987) she was riding pretty high with some hit songs. But no one was writing songs about abusive relationships and she was willing to give that song a vehicle. She fought hard to have it released as a single but the record company wouldn’t go for it. I think it could have been a hit. The album it’s on, Kings Record Shop, is so great, and (guitarist) Steuart Smith did some amazing work on that record. I’ve played it live with her a few times. Roseanne is a dear friend and I owe her a lot.

RRM: Anything else you’d like to add? I really appreciate your time.

EG: I think that about does it. It’s been great. Take care of that sore throat and please do come up at the show and say hello!

If You Go: Eliza Gilkyson, Wednesday April 13. Doors 7 p.m.; Show 7:30 p.m. All ages. $17 adv.; $20 d.o.s.; $30 VIP (guaranteed seating in 1st three rows!). The Altamont Theatre, 18 Church St., Asheville. For tickets call (828) 270-7747 or visit www.TheAltamont.com