Eliza Gilkyson

Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Eliza Gilkyson
Born	August 24, 1950 (age 65) Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Folk
Occupation(s)	musician
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1979–present
Website	elizagilkyson.com

Eliza Gilkyson (born August 24, 1950, Hollywood, California) is an Austin, Texas-based folk musician. She is the daughter of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and his wife, Jane. Her brother is guitarist Tony Gilkyson, who played with the Los Angeles-based bands Lone Justice and X. She is married to scholar and author Robert Jensen.

Gilkyson first recorded as a vocalist on demos and soundtracks produced by her father, who wrote several hits in the 1950s and early 1960s and is also known as a singer-composer for 1960s Disney films. She released Eliza '69, her first album, in 1969 while raising a family in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and did not come out with her second, Love from the Heart, until ten years later. She moved to Austin, Texas in 1981 and released the commercial album Pilgrims before moving to Los Angeles in 1987.

After a brief stint in Los Angeles, she returned to New Mexico in the early 1990s, releasing several albums of original material. In 1993 she collaborated with New Age artist Andreas Vollenweider on his recording, Eolian Minstrel. She has been with Red House Records since 2000, although she also worked on three albums independently, recording on her own label, Realiza Records. In 2003 she was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame. Eliza's third album with Red House Records, Land of Milk and Honey was released in 2004, and was nominated for a Grammy.

In 2005, she released Paradise Hotel with the song "Requiem" about the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in December 2004. Coinciding with Hurricane Katrina's devastation of the Gulf Coast region in August 2005, this song found its way to listeners as a song of prayer and comfort. The same year she was recognized with 3 Austin Music Awards and 4 Folk Alliance Music Awards, one of which was for her song "Man of God" about the Bush administration.