TIM JEFFERSON'S REVIEW At the drop of a hat my good friend Kevin Neave took me over to Nottingham
to see a gig that I simply couldn't miss. There's a big scene in Nottingham and 'The
Forest Tavern' on Mansfield Road sports some high powered gigs. A lot of American
artists seem to include this venue in their tours of the UK, Emmylou Harris was in
Nottingham only days before I was there. On this occasion I went to see I See Hawks
in L.A. and Tony Gilkyson in support. What a night. A good sized room at the
back of the pub proved intimate and exciting as the venue. Tony Gilkyson came on
first and it was as if someone had opened the doors at both ends of the room. A rush
of fresh air lifted off the stage leaving you with nowhere to hide. His songs pack a
powerful punch and have a rich range of harmony, lyric and dextrous dynamic to pin you to
the wall. This is class stuff. A singer songwriter he was ably backed by Kip
Boardman on Bass and a drummer common to both bands. Tony on guitar, included in his
set the beautiful 'Upon the Stars' by Kip (a class songwriter with his own reputation)
which was the title tune in the 'must see' film Clipping Adam. Tony himself comes
from a tradition of songwriters with his father writing a lot of stuff for Walt Disney
(Jungle Book for example). Buy the album 'Goodbye Guitar' which is celebrated by
this tour. You will not be disappointed (see websites at end of review).
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