American Folk: Eliza Gilkyson's Paradise Hotel Seen as Tribute to Bob Feldman

On January 11, the music world lost Bob Feldman, founder and president of Red House Records—a folk and roots music label that is intimately connected with Greg Brown’s career along with so many other artists, a label which has helped launch careers and also became the supportive home for many established songwriters. Feldman’s legacy will continue on at Red House, but his early death at age 56 comes just as Red House seems to be poised to make even more inroads to helping roots music become part of the widespread public consciousness.

While the Red House Records catalog contains many incredible releases, many of which would exemplify Feldman’s vision and ear for music, I’ve selected to honor Feldman’s life through some words about the 2005 album, Paradise Hotel, by Eliza Gilkyson.


Gilkyson is one of those established artists that found a new label home at Red House which allowed her to explore new sounds. In an email, Gilkyson said, “As the daughter of a folk singer who loved pop melodies [Terry Gilkyson], I never thought of myself as a roots artist. Bob [Feldman] offered me a home and an opportunity to experiment with the parameters of the genre. He supported my taking a political stance, he believed music was a great vehicle for inspiring change, and he never doubted my artistry. I am crushed he is gone. I still can't wrap my brain around it. He was a valuable ally, and a friend.”

Certainly, Paradise Hotel shows Gilkyson’s political stance on the challenging, bluesy soul of “Man of God.” It’s a song that asks questions about George W. Bush, his administration, and really the Christian Right’s political movement, and they are questions that the Church should be asking. As Gilkyson looks at Bush’s policies that are mingled with biblical language (e.g.: “Startin’ up wars in the name of God’s son/Gonna blow us all the way to kingdom come,”), the chorus then offers the counterbalancing clarity: “That ain’t the teaching of a man of God.” As Gilkyson said, Feldman encouraged such a push for societal change through the music he produced at Red House. More than just nice, acoustic, traditional happy songs, Feldman found artists who are commenting on today’s predicaments and making us stare those questions in the face.

Again from Gilkyson’s email, she says, “I feel that Bob Feldman helped to expand the vision of what it meant to be a folk singer in these times. The genre was becoming almost a parody of itself. I remember thinking it was all over for folk music when John Belushi smashed a collegiate folk singer over the head with an acoustic guitar in Animal House for singing a syrupy version of “I Gave My Love A Cherry.” Bob helped to reinvent the genre by not only honoring its roots, with musical artists like Spider John Koerner, Rosalie Sorrels and Ramblin Jack Elliott, but by embracing the new folk singers who carried that vision to its next evolution. Artists like Greg Brown, John Gorka and Guy Davis are the next generation of musicians who are merging the personal and the political in the time honored tradition of folk music, employing the age old sparse organic production, while voicing modern concerns and current perspectives.”

She doesn’t include herself in the list, but Gilkyson is certainly doing the same kind of work as Brown, Gorka, and Davis. Gilkyson uses the words of a family ancestor’s letters in “Jedidiah 1777” in order to continue look at the effects of war, revolution, the need for independence, and the plain hope for peace, love, and normal life.

Of course, I also think that she’s doing the important and necessary work of honoring the masters, because she has included a tremendous cover of World Party’s “Is It Like Today?” Karl Wallinger (formerly of the Waterboys) has never received enough recognition for his songwriting, but here Gilkyson lifts up his song in folk voice to reveal a song which has more strength than may be expected from a forgotten band.

Finally, as a send off of sorts for Feldman, Paradise Hotel closes with “Requiem” and “When You Walk On.” “Requiem” was written in response to the 2004 Asian tsunami. The song haunts even as it beautifies this world with its words of grief, loss, and a prayer to Mary for help. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say certain lines apply to the loss of Bob Feldman, such as, “In the dark night of the soul/Our broken hearts you can make whole.” As many people may have broken hearts over Feldman’s death, we’re praying that someone can heal our hearts. While appropriate in Catholic circles as a prayer to Mary, a change to the song into a prayer to Jesus would make this very moving song ready to use in wider Christian circles.

“When You Walk On” asks some of the same questions about death (“No one here can say for certain/What lies in the great beyond/You’ll pass through the parted curtain/When you walk on”). The tune is draped with traditional sounds from mandolin and dobro giving it a bluegrass-tinge to the folk melody. While certainly I believe that there is a certainly to life after death through Jesus when we walk on, this song gains its power from staring in wonder at that curtain of death, giving voice to the fears about how “the world you leave behind you/will become a distant song.”

For Feldman, the world is filled with many songs due to his life work. They may be distant for him, and not knowing his personal faith, I cannot speak about what it means that he has walked on. However, these songs are not distant for us, the ones who remain, the ones who are able to continue seeking out artists who are writing songs that cause us to look again at our world, our lives, and our idea of music, so that what Feldman started does not die.

For more about Bob Feldman and Red House Records, please visit the Red House Website. Thank you to Red House and Eliza Gilkyson for the review copy and their help.