Land of Milk & Honey

Eliza Gilkyson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 23, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Red House
• ASIN: B0001CNQFI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,673 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She Keeps Getting Better, February 25, 2005

By 

Music fan (Norfolk, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Land of Milk & Honey (Audio CD)

Eliza Gilkyson spent some of last year touring with a Woody Guthrie tribute ensemble put together by Jimmy LaFave and it seems to have rubbed off in all the best ways. "Milk and Honey" is her most political and most thought-provoking album. It's also the third in a series of fine discs that show her songwriting reaching a higher level.

She opens with "Hiway 9," a sarcastic indictment of the leaders, including a "white man hidden in a black man's skin," who danced with the "devil of our own design" and got caught sleeping at the sentry post that ought to show up as one of Moveon.org's theme songs. Opening lyrics: "Well, the white god said to the little man. We're going to fulfill Scripture in the Holy Land. Between the Tigris and the Euphrates it's a lot like hell. Gonna liberate people and the O I L."

"Tender Mercies," the disc's centerpiece, is a heartbreaking ballad contrasting a teen suicide bomber deprived of basic childhood love -- "every mother's prayer" -- and a mother across the world who safely tucks in her children that could have fit easily on Springsteen's "The Rising."

If Gilkyson had found her "Richmond Boy" on her last album, she's lost him on this one. But "Not Lonely," a poignant examination of reaching middle age and finding your way alone, shows she's not unhappy. "Wonderland" is a pop tune about lowering expectations in a relationship. And she pays tribute to a hard-living friend with the New Orleans dirge of "Dark Side of Town:" I'm gonna be a midnight rider. Gonna burn my candle down. Following that driving beat to the dark side of town."

Fittingly, the album concludes with "Peace Call," an unrecorded Guthrie tune beautifully rendered by Gilkyson and pals Patty Griffin, Iris Dement and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Woody would be pleased.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A voice of smoke and honey, July 26, 2005

By 

Matt Duane Griffin "--M. D. Griffin" (MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Land of Milk & Honey (Audio CD)

Heard this one on the radio -- oddly, the track was "Ballad of Yvonne Johnson", and knew immediately I had to have it. It had all this aspects that are just what draws me in to a record -- it was rootsy, it was political, it told a story that had to be true (I totally "felt" Yvonne Johnson by the end), told fearlessly and unflinchingly, and it had this amazing, distinctive, absolutely perfect woman's voice. The CD is full of great songs, the standouts for me being "Hiway 9" "Dark Side Of Town" and "Wonderland", but I love everything here.

My tastes are eclectic -- just check out what I have reviewed to this point -- and I do enjoy good singer songwriter stuff. But my standard is Dylan, Townes, Guy Clark, stuff with some meat to it, stuff that has well - chosen words and, frankly, a bit of attitude. This record meets the standard. It also has that wonderful voice.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars God bless the world, May 31, 2005

By 

G. Lagerberg "George," (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Land of Milk & Honey (Audio CD)

As simple as this sentence looks, it's an amazing change of view for all americans; as a European living in the States I always wondered who would bless the rest of the world if God only blesses America. I found the answer.
As simple as this, the music of Eliza is too: straight and clear. I have loved this CD and a live performance as well.