Search - Tony Gilkyson :: Goodbye Guitar

Long a mainstay of Los Angeles roots rock, guitarist Tony Gilkyson has never achieved as high a profile as his folksinger sister Eliza, his former bandmates in X, or some of the artists he's backed as a sideman for hire. Thus it's something of a revelation that his second solo album shines so brightly as a songwriter's showcase, with material distinguished by musical range, emotional depth, and wry humor. Instead of a journeyman's display of guitar licks, Gilkyson applies his weathered vocals to "Wilton Bridge," a song that channels the populist social conscience of Woody Guthrie as it warns us not to judge too quickly the homeless man sleeping under the bridge. He subsequently transforms Guthrie's own "Old Cracked Looking Glass" into raucous honky-tonk, captures the world-weary flair of the Parisian boulevardier on "Man About Town" (written by father Terry Giklyson, with Eliza providing familial harmony), and delivers a whimsical, Appalachian-flavored kiss-off to his instrument in the title track. Throughout, the guitar work is impeccable, as is the support from the likes of drummer Don Heffington and multi-instrumentalist Van Dyke Parks, but the songs make the album a standout. --Don McLeese