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Cliff Eberhardt and Eliza Gilkyson at University of Hartford
Two of the most gifted musical storytellers on the folk scene today, Cliff Eberhardt and Eliza Gilkyson, will co-headline a concert on Friday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. in Wilde Auditorium at the University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Ave. in West Hartford.
The show is part of the Music for a Change series, sponsored by the University of Hartford’s Center for Community Service and WWUH (91.3 FM), which brings both national and local folk and acoustic artists to campus. Proceeds from these performances benefit local charities; proceeds from the Eberhardt/ Gilkyson concert will benefit Boundless Playgrounds, which provides direct services to people, groups and companies who want to design and develop playgrounds where children of all abilities can laugh, play and grow together. Boundless Playgrounds seeks to increase public awareness of the tremendous need for these special playgrounds and to demonstrate how all children benefit from them.
Cliff Eberhardt has long been one of the most respected songwriters on the club scene; performers who have recorded his material include Richie Havens, Shawn Colvin and Buffy Saint Marie. His song "Memphis" was recently included on Cry Cry Cry, an album of collaborative covers by the folk supergroup of the same name, comprising Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell.
On Borders, Eberhardt’s most recent release on Red House Records, his songwriting, singing and guitar playing come together to create a potent brew. His first recording for Red House Records was 1997’s 12 Songs of Good and Evil. The Washington Post said that the album "demonstrates Eberhardt’s gift as a storyteller. He draws freely from both his life and his imagination to create these tales and delivers them with plenty of conviction."
Eliza Gilkyson was born to make music. She is a third-generation poet/ musician; her father was a 1950s folksinger-songwriter ("Bare Necessities" from Disney’s The Jungle Book and "Marianne"), and her brother, Tony, is a guitarist in the rock bands X and Lone Justice. She sums up that legacy brilliantly on "Beauty Way," the opening track of her critically acclaimed CD, Hard Times in Babylon (Red House Records, 2000). This homage to the plight of being a guitar slinger by trade "is a little about me, a little about my brother and a whole lot about most guitar players trying to keep the balance between making a living and keeping their creative fires burning," she says.
Gilkyson, though, is much more than a "guitar slinger," as she has won wide praise for her singing and songwriting. "There is a fine line between sensual and sexual and Eliza is not afraid to jump back and forth between the two … Her intertwining lyrics and fluttering vocals will seduce you and lead you willingly into her world of angelic passions," noted Songwriter’s Monthly. Her voice, which has been called "a plain wonder" by the Boston Globe and "breathtaking" by the Indianapolis New Times, clearly shined on A Nod to Bob: An Artist’s Tribute to Bob Dylan on His 60th Birthday (Red House Records, 2001).
Tickets are $15; for ticket info call the University box office at 860-768-4228, or 800-274-8587. For more info about the Music for a Change concert series, call Irwin Nussbaum at 860-768-5026, or visit <www.musicforachange.com>.
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