ELIZA GILKYSON at Shady Grove 8-14-08

Eliza plays this Unplugged series every year & always draws a big crowd. Last night was no different.
Opening was her brother Tony & Randy Weeks. Tony I knew of because he opened for Eliza at Cactus Cafe back in June. At that show he also played with her band. He is, as a singer, pretty low key so at the Cactus it worked very well. That is a small, intimate listening room. Wasn't the same feel at Shady. He is a great guitarist & his guitar was not loud enough which was a shame. I didn't know who Randy Weeks was but now that I've heard him I'll be checking him out. Turns out he lives here & plays around often enough. They would play a couple of Tony's songs, then a couple of Randy's. The last song they played was Can't Let Go which Lucinda Williams had a hit with & really launched her album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Randy wrote it.
Eliza & her band took the stage a little after 8pm. They played 2 sets. It was a good mix of old classics along with the new stuff from Beautiful World. I love her band. Glenn Fukunaga on bass is really good. He plays on a lot of music coming out of Austin including Ruthie Foster's last record, The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster. Then on lead guitar is Mike Hardwick who plays so subtly & adds so much to her sound. Lastly Cisco Ryder is on drums. He is Eliza's son & in this case it's true what they say, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. A good musician & when he harmonizes their voices together are so nice.
A funny comment by Eliza was after she finished playing Man of God which, for my money, is by far the best song written about the idiot boy, George W. Bush. She said after November she will no longer play the song & might write a new one to play called Man is Gone. We all said amen to that!