Whether nature or nurture, it seems inevitable that Tony Gilkyson would become a musician. His father, Terry, was a folk singer who wrote hits for Dean Martin, Frankie Laine, and Disney (“The Bare Necessities”), and sister Eliza is an acclaimed singer/songwriter.
An alumnus of country-rock’s Lone Justice and punk-rockers X, the 71-year-old has recorded with Peter Rowan, Exene Cervenka, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Alice Cooper. His latest solo album, the instrumental Avenging Angel, deftly charts from a “light-hearted Bakersfield romp” to noir moods, from cool R&B to blistering country twang.
After two solo albums with vocals, why all-instrumental this time out?
I realized how important instrumental music was to me, from the very beginning of my listening to popular music. The very first songs that rocked my world as a boy were “Night Train” by James Brown and Elmer Bernstein’s “Walk On The Wild Side.” I was mesmerized by Travis Wammack’s “Scratchy,” and the James Brown instrumental “Suds” with Les Buie got my attention. For years, I tried to figure out who the guitar player was on Nelson Riddle’s “Route 66 Theme.” (Ed Note: The lead guitarist was Tony Rizzi, and Bob Bain doubled the upright bass on Danelectro six-string bass.) And Chuck Berry, of course; the last two solo choruses in “No Particular Place To Go” grabbed me.
On some songs, you’re doing country picking in a funk song.
Very observant of you (laughs)! To me, it all comes out of the same thing; unfortunately, a kind of cultural ignorance goes into attitudes about them. I think they’re very closely aligned.
Rob Douglas [bassist/producer] was invaluable for this record, because he’s got a great ear, and he always came through with perspective and ideas.
Did you go through stages of absorbing this style or that?
Yes. This is a record by someone who has assimilated this, that, and the other with a fairly long time in each. When I got into country, I liked Roy Nichols’ playing because he could play lighthearted beautifully, but he could get a little dark, too. I could detect anger in his playing. I was also taken with Amos Garrett – and baffled by how the hell he did what he did. The first Great Speckled Bird album is pretty mind-boggling, and the albums he did with Geoff and Maria Muldaur, and Paul Butterfield’s Better Days. Harvey Mandel’s playing on Charlie Musselwhite’s first record, Stand Back, was very striking to me. You instantly know it’s him. And his solo album, Cristo Redentor – what a wonderful record. I jumped into Jesse Ed Davis wholeheartedly; he and J.J. Cale were so understated, but in a way that got your attention. I’m impressed with guitar players who understate more than overstate.
Did you do much session work, and was it challenging?
You mean ass-clenching (laughs)? Sure. Nothing too horrific comes to mind, but in all honesty, playing on the Walk The Line soundtrack was not easy replicating Luther Perkins. I “do Tony” pretty good, but I was not a reader, and it’s a very intense environment, probably not well-suited for me.
What were your experiences in Lone Justice and X like?
Lone Justice was all hillbilly stuff, and Maria McKee was the genuine article. I didn’t get enamored with X until their third record, More Fun In The New World, because it seemed more-vulnerable, showing more of their influences. When I left Lone Justice, I said, “I’m just not gonna be in bands anymore; I’m gonna do my thing… unless X calls.”
Dave Alvin and I had both left bands and were chomping at the bit to blow our brains out on guitar. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, guitar was reinventing in a way that was truly based on feeling. Minimize it; don’t make a big production out of it. That really resonated with me. When I first saw the Blasters, Dave had maybe three guitar licks, but he had more charisma than a lot of guitarists who had bigger vocabularies. It fit in the same way that Keith Richards fits. To me, punk-rock in bands like the Ramones was liberation at its very best. You were able to become a part of the music so that you’re forgetting the mundane in your life.
What gear did you use on the album?
The beat-up Kay Sizzler has been my primary guitar for 25 years. I got it from Subway Guitars, in Berkeley, and it had the most wonderful neck, but I wasn’t crazy about those Kay pickups. I put reissue Filter’Trons in it, which were overwound and nothing like original Filter’Trons. But through a clean-sounding amp, it’s great. My main amps were a Super Reverb with CTS speakers and a Gibson GA-20.
I also used my Creston Tele that’s wired out-of-phase, and I played my Harmony Patrician round-hole through a Leslie on “Zanak Panak.” That song is predicated on the theory that Xanax is sort of the major-7th chord of anti-anxiety medications – effective but creepy.
This article originally appeared in VG’s January 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
