Event
Eliza Gilkyson in concert with Nina Gerber
Texas Jon and Arena Theater present Eliza Gilkyson in concert with Nina Gerber.
Texas has produced a long list of great singer/songwriters: Buddy Holley, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zant, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Mickey Newberry, Rodney Crowell and Janice Joplin come to mind. Coming to the Arena Theater is one of the latest great picker/poets from Texas, Eliza Gilkyson, with a California connection.
Born in the early 50s in L.A., daughter of singer/songwriter Terry Gilkyson who wrote The Bare Necessities (Disneys Jungle Book), Memories are Made of This (Dean Martin), Green Fields (Brothers Four), Cry of the Wild Goose (Frankie Lane) and others, she has made her home in Austin, Texas for the last 20 years. There she has influenced, and been influenced by, that rich musical scene.
Her latest album, "Beautiful World" contains songs inspired by a series of monthly gatherings hosted by Eliza, her husband Robert Jensen (author, activist and University of Texas professor) and a Presbyterian minister. These community forums covered many topics, politics, art, spirituality and the environment. From this came a cycle of songs about perseverance and hope for a more beautiful world (Two of the songs were covered by Joan Baez on her most recent album). Inspired by the forums Eliza now offsets all her touring with carbon credits and uses a portable solar system to power her local shows in Austin. She has also reinterpreted her fathers Green Fields as a moving reflection on our relationship with the earth.
At the end of the sixties, she moved to New Mexico with other likeminded souls, raised a family and developed loyal followers in the Southwest and Texas. Then while living in Europe, she worked and performed with Swiss composer/harpist Andreas Vollenweider. Coming back to the states she moved to Austin, signed with Red House Records and has since recorded seven albums one of which, 2004s Land of Milk and Honey, was nominated for a Grammy in the contemporary folk category.
In 2002 All Things Considered featured an interview with Eliza regarding her CD, Lost and Found, which included a song she had written about her father titled Easy Rider (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15055548). This interview thrust her onto the national scene. After 9/11 she wrote and recorded several moving pieces in response to the direction she saw the country and the world going.
Appearing with Eliza will be Nina Gerber. Nina is well known in Northern California. She performed with Kate Wolf for most of Kate's career, beginning as accompanist, eventually collaborator, arranging and producing some of Kate's albums and even compiling some posthumous releases. After seeing Kate perform in 1975 at a pizza parlor in Sebastopol, California - Nina's home town - Nina set a goal to work with her, and by 1978 the goal was accomplished. Nina came to be an essential part of Kate's music, eventually becoming her accompanist and close musical companion, a partnership which lasted until Kate's death in 1986, and in its effect, has lasted long beyond that.
Eliza and Nina have just completed an Australian tour so Arena Theater concert goers will see a tight, thought provoking and insightful performance from two seasoned professionals.
Profits from the concert will go to benefit Friends of the Gualala River.
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LocationArena Theater
214 Main Street
Point Arena, CA 95468
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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