EUREKA SPRINGS — Sure, there have been a few moments over the course of her 40-plusyear music career when Eliza Gilkyson doubted that she could continue as a songwriter.
“Every artist goes through that process, I think,” Gilkyson says.
Every time, as she looked for another career path, she wound up rededicating herself to the music instead.
Besides, what else would someone who began her career singing backup for her folksinger father do?
“I was probably neurotically driven,” she says with a laugh while enjoying a day off in upstate New York. “It’s important to me in terms of my sense of self.”
Gilkyson got her start with her father, noted folk composer and vocalist Terry Gilkyson. When she was just 14 or 15, the elder Gilkyson would let her take the leftover studio time he had purchased - just a few hours here and there - and record her own work.
His daughter released her first album, “Eliza ’69,” in 1969.
Excluding a few recording gaps while she took a break to raise her children, Gilkyson has continued her work as one of the folk genre’s most respected tunesmiths. The Boston Globe saysher creations are “masterfully structured, startlingly intimate songs in a beautifully lived-in voice” and The Austin Chronicle called her latest live album “intimate, inviting and warm.”
Gilkyson tours as a solo artist, with limited accompaniment or with a full band. It’s the latter of the three she’ll bring with her for her headlining set at the 63rd Ozark Folk Festival in Eureka Springs. The festival begins on Thursday, and Gilkyson performs place Nov. 6.
FAQ
63RD ANNUAL OZARK FOLK FESTIVAL
WHEN - Thursday through Nov. 6
WHERE - Various venues around Eureka Springs
COST - Barefoot Ball on Nov. 5 is $10; headlining show on Nov. 6 is $15; and many other shows are free
INFO - 888-855-7823 or www.ozarkfolkfestival.com.
She’s recently collaborated with a few other folk songwriters for a collaboration called “Red Horse,” which was released this July. Teaming up with John Gorka andLucy Kaplansky, the trio recorded 12 songs, but they did so in a rather unconventional fashion. Each chose selections from the other artists to re-record. Hearing her own songs done by someone else was a learning experience for all of them, Gilkyson says.
“We were astonished at how differently our songs could be done,” she says.
Gilkyson is also at work on a new album of her own, tentatively titled “Roses at the End of Time,” a collection of songs she hopes to record in December and release early next year. As for her own songwriting process, she calls it the “Crock-Pot approach.” She reads scientifi c journals, storiesabout the human condition and environment, political observations and “just lets them simmer for a while.”
“I’m not as angst driven as I was before. Now, I need to do it because I need to put out a new record,” she says, laughing again.
When she gets a tour break, she then takes those topics and ideas, turns off the television and other distractions from the outside world, and waits to see what happens.
“I need to crawl back to the cave and disconnect from the world. … It takes a while to change my headspace. At my age, I’m so grateful they (songs) keep coming,” she says.
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FYI
OZARK FOLK FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Thursday
5:30 p.m. - Doors open for free show at the Auditorium
6 p.m. - Hedgehoppers
6:20 p.m. - Youth Talent Show (17 and younger)
7:50 p.m. - Winners announced
8 p.m. - Short intermission with 3 Penny Acre
8:15 p.m. - Adult Talent Show (18 and over)
10 p.m. - Winners announced
***
Nov. 5
Noon-6 p.m. - Craft show, Basin Spring Park
12-2 p.m. - Outside The Lines, Basin Spring Park. Free.
2-4 p.m. - Susan Shore and Michael Cockran, Basin Spring Park. Free.
4-6 p.m. - Lyal Strickland and Kim Richardson, Basin Spring Park. Free.
6 p.m. - Doors open for Barefoot Ball, Basin Park Ballroom. $10.
7 p.m. - Cletus Got Shot, Basin Park Ballroom
8 p.m. - Big Smith, Basin Park Ballroom
***
Nov. 6
10 a.m. - Singer/song writer contest finals, The Auditorium. Free.
Noon to 6 p.m. - Craft show, Basin Spring Park
12-2 p.m. - Rebecca Loebe and Raina Rose, Basin Spring Park. Free.
2 p.m. - Folk Festival parade, downtown
2-4 p.m. - GBMojo, Basin Spring Park. Free.
4-6 p.m. - The Hill Benders, Basin Spring Park. Free.
6:15 p.m. - Doors open for headlining show at The Auditorium. $15.
7 p.m. - 3 Penny Acre
8 p.m. - Wes Castro
8:45 p.m. - Eliza Gilkyson
Whats Up, Pages 15 on 10/29/2010