IN THE MIX Tony Gilkyson Edition Vol. 1 - Lone Justice, X, Randy Weeks, & Chuck E. Weiss Guitarist!

IN  THE MIX Tony Gilkyson Edition Vol. 1

When I lived in San Francisco, I had a crazy girlfriend I turned onto my favorite hangout--a bar that had the same rockabilly band playing for free every Monday night.  The band was great, & the draft beer was cheap, & the bar itself was a hundred years old.  Because I was travelling for work, & she was there every Monday, when we split up, she got my watering hole in the separation.

So when I moved to Los Angeles, I set to work to find a similar set-up. Randy Weeks wrote Can’t Let Go, which Lucinda Williams included on her Grammy-Winning Car Wheels On A Gravel Road album, which afforded him his own night at The Cinema Bar, and a crack band.  Two other songwriters Mike Stinson, & Tony Gilkyson backed him on drums, & guitar, & they had lots of famous guests (like Lucinda Williams) drop in. 

Gilkyson is from a family of songwriters that includes his sister Eliza Gilkyson, and his father Terry Gilkyson who was nominated for an Academy Award for writing Bare Necessities for Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book.  He also wrote Dean Martin's #1 hit Memories Are Made Of This.

But while he's a great songwriter, what Tony was most known for was his guitar playing.  First with Chuck E. Weiss & The Goddamn Liars, then Lone Justice, and finally replacing Dave Alvin in X, who had replaced the legendary Billy Zoom.  Tony also produced albums for his sister, and Dances With Wolves author & poet Michael Blake.  He co-produced two of Chuck E. Weiss’ albums with Tom Waits, and also co-wrote some Goddamn Liar songs that are included in this compilation (if he can be believed).

Having seen him live at The Cinema Bar 11-12 times, easy, I can tell you that he's quiet, & unassuming, and nice, & one of the most tasteful rock guitarists there is.  And you can't go wrong with any of the albums he's put out as a solo artist.

IN THE MIX Tony Gilkyson Edition Vol. 1 contains a lot of X tracks from their Live At The Whiskey-A-Go-Go & Unclogged albums.  I feel that the admirable way Gilkyson filled Billy Zoom’s shoes live is one of the reasons the wayward guitarist returned to the fold.  Check out Tony's guitar solo on The Once Over Twice—it sounds like a creature born of atomic testing rising out of the water off the coast of Tokyo.  There are also cuts with Chuck E., Randy Weeks, & with Lone Justice on a night Bono joined the band onstage.  Volume 2 is already finished, but I’m pacing myself.

If anyone has this album by Tony & Michael Blake, it would help the cause:  https://www.discogs.com/release/3469721-Michael-Blake-6-Tony-Gilkyson-Im-Alive