About this user
Music Connection, Songwriter Profile
by Dan Kimple, Feb 13 2006
Tony Gilkyson traverses a crossroads of styles, with a distinctively West Coast attitude. I dont consider myself a roots guy, but a lot of people perceive me that way, he says. I dont have a problem with it. Hillbilly, country and western music; Im such a fan of that. But I dont have an interest in being retro. Gilkyson was a member of the band X for a decade. He has backed such artists as Sam Phillips, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Dave Alvin; produced X vocalist Exene Cervenkas two solo albums; and worked on projects with his sister, Eliza Gilkyson, author/poet Michael Blake, Eleni Mandell, Chuck E. Weiss and a host of L.A.-based singer/songwriters including Kip Boardman and Mike Stinson. Gilkysons guitar work is now featured prominently on the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk The Line. I played a lot of the Luther Perkins parts, played behind the Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, and Roy Orbison characters, and on a lot of the Johnny & June stuff, he clarifies. Most people associate me as a guitar player. I want them to hear my music from a songwriting perspective.