Goodbye Guitar

One might guess from Tony Gilkyson's family roots (his father, Terry, was a heavy in the folk field) that he'd strayed far from home on the opening cut of Goodbye Guitar. But one should also remember that Gilkyson played guitar for X for ten years. Goodbye Guitar resides somewhere between the extremes of folk and punk, with Gilkyson relying on a full band to deliver the straight rock of "Mojave High" and the country of "Wilton Bridge." He also relies on one of his father's most memorable songs, "Man About Town," a composition with a lovely chord progression. The song — with its sad lyric of a life thrown away in pursuit of pleasure — almost resembles, structurally, a show tune or jazz standard. Gilkyson's weathered vocals bring a world-weary quality to songs like "Old Cracked Looking Glass" and "Since the Well Ran Dry." It's interesting that several of these mostly country-flavored songs would've worked just fine on The Modern Sounds of the Knitters (the Knitters are an X side project). Gilkyson has written most of the material on the album, but there are also solid songs like Celeste Moreno's "Juanita." Goodbye Guitar may be filed under alternative country, but Gilkyson (like his sister Eliza Gilkyson) is a singer/songwriter, and will be appreciated by anyone who enjoys carefully composed songs. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., Rovi