Eliza Gilkyson

Eliza Gilkyson

Land of Milk and Honey (Red House) It's understatement to suggest that Eliza Gilkyson is merely on a roll; everything she's ever written or recorded was to this end. The Austin singer-songwriter's last two albums, Lost and Found and Hard Times in Babylon, were such wonderfully realized efforts that they stand as crowning achievements in her career, much like her induction into the Texas Music Hall of Fame last year. Despite its bucolic title, Land of Milk and Honey, Gilkyson's latest gives no quarter with songs as excellent as they are raw and brutal. Her gift is the ability to mask razor-sharp words in deceptively easy melodies and make the expression of personal longing just as devastating. Like all good folksingers, Gilkyson's material is patchwork, worn velvet squares of songs like "Tender Mercies" and "Wonderland," something old in "Runnin Away," and something new in "Hiway 9." Producer Mark Hallman coaxes the fine colors of "Not Lonely" and the pain of "Separated" with a master's touch. Woody Guthrie's unrecorded "Peace Call," meanwhile, features Iris DeMent, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Patty Griffin, four fabulous voices joined in harmony. These are songs that speak in a universal language, yet are layered in meaning: "Ballad of Yvonne Johnson" pulsates with a terrible truth, while "Milk and Honey" resonates like a prayer, and "Dark Side of Town" pays homage to her sister's lost love, Big Al Ragle. It's the sort of close-to-home bond Gilkyson seals with her family, from her songwriter father and her brother Tony (of X) to her grandson Cisco Ryder, who accompanies her on Land of Milk and Honey, a tribute to not just talent but the family of man. (Thursday, March 18, 11pm @ Cactus Cafe)