Riff: Eliza Gilkyson

Relaxed, in good voice and company, Eliza Gilkyson performed at Susanna’s kitchen last week with multi-instrumentalist Don Richmond of the Rifters, a New Mexico- based band from Alamosa. You might remember that Don performed alongside Michael Hearne during the Winters Night concert and offered his insights and experience as one of the instructors at the Winters Night workshop. He is also a producer for Realiza Records.

The large audience overflowed into the lobby and I saw Susan Gibson, as well as Rose Gabriel and Mindy Curnutt of the Hill Country Honeys and other wellknown singer songwriters in the room.

Eliza opened the set with “True North,” from her CD “Home” released last year in June. She had not been to Wimberley for six years, she said, and told the crowd “this performance is a joyful homecoming for me.”

She performed “Through the Looking Glass” from her 2018 CD, “Secularia” and entertained the audience with its memorable backstory. Written after ingesting some psychedelic brew administered by a local witch or “bruja,” the song came to her fully formed. It showed her voice, beautiful and nuanced, to perfection.

As she and Richmond settled into the set, she scolded herself with, “Who was the genius who wrote this set list,” eliciting giggles from the crowd who enjoyed her playful self-effacement.

Before she sang “Safety Zone,” she shared the frightening story of being dragged by her car at the Kerrville Folk Festival. When she said the back wheel of her car missed her head by inches, the room drew in a collective breath of shock.

Also from her CD, “Home,” she sang the duet “How Deep” with Richmond taking up his part of the vocals on the tender ballad originally recorded by Robert Earl Keen. The pair held the audience in a powerful spell.

Other songs from “Home” followed. As the set progressed, she took off her jacket and told the crowd that “This little tin shed is heating up.”

Beautiful, spare, and honest, each song revealed lyrics crafted with uncommon clarity and dished out with precision. Her fans knew them all well, and rewarded her each time with reverental applause and a second set filled with requests of cherished songs.

Roam: Willow City Loop and the Hill Country Wildflower Trails My roam this week took me to the Willow City Loop on FM1323 near the intersection of U.S. Highways 281 and 290 outside of Johnson City. There isn’t much to the unincorporated community of Willow City with its population of 100 except for the handsome Willow City School built in 1905 and private ranch road called the Willow City Loop that’s celebrated for its scenery and wildflowers.

About 10 miles from the entrance of the Loop on FM1323, the Spring rains had pushed up butterball clumps of bluebonnets on either side of the road. Thick swaths of blue dotted with red bluebonnets and orange Indian Paintbrush could be seen in many, but not all sections of the road. Inside the Loop proper, wildflowers had awakened in patches, some in the valleys of the red stone cliffs, some alongside the road, others in fields visible from the higher elevations. Yet to achieve its full glory, the scenery was already being observed by a number of cars taking in the view on a Sunday afternoon.

There are five wildflower trails in the Hill Country north of us. The Yellow Coneflower Trail can be accessed near the Willow City Loop from the Althaus- Davis Road off FM1323 to FM3347 and followed along FM 962 to SH 71.

Near Spicewood and Krause Springs is the Winecup Trail. Off SH 71, the loop begins at Spur 191 and follows CRs 414 and 404.

The Texas Paintbrush Trail makes a large loop from Marble Falls on Highway 281 and north to Burnet, east to Bertram and along the Balcones Canyonland Natural Wildlife Refuge and back to Marble Falls.

A Prairie Verbena Trail that also begins in Marble Falls, makes a big loop from Longhorn Cavern State Park to Inks Lake State Park to the Buchanan Dam before it returns to Marble Falls.

Also starting from Marble Falls and heading west is a small loop called the Bluebonnet Trail. It travels through Johnson Park to the Marble Falls Cemetery where the bluebonnets are especially thick, and onto Look Out Mountain toward Kingsland.

Rave: ARTSPACE’s “Solar / Lunar” Exhibition A small but timely exhibition by nine artists is on display at the wonderfully serene ARTSPACE gallery on River Road. Housed in the former Sugar Shack bakery, ARTSPACE has managed to become a hushed chapel where visitors can leave the commotion of the world for a while and travel down the rabbit hole of artists exploring a theme.

The rabbit hole for this exhibition centered on images relating to outer space and its orbs. You’ll see a striking photo of a hand holding the moon drenched in honey by Virginia L. Montgomery and a series of photos by Bethany Johnson in which she obscured the sun by throwing shells and rocks in a perfectly timed photo eclipse. Other works of video, drawing, sculpture and collage are part of the exhibition’s offerings.

Solar / Lunar will continue through April 21st. ARTSPACE gallery hours are Fridays from 4 to 7 p.m., Saturdays noon to 5 p.m. and Sundays, from 11 to 4 p.m. It is located at 111 River Road, Suite 100.