It’s back. Acoustic Sunday Live returns to Beth Sholom Synagogue for another round of folk heavyweights. This time, Rodney Crowell, Eliza Gilkyson, and Gretchen Peters will perform on Sunday, December 7th, at 7 p.m.
Rodney Crowell, a native of Houston, has written for a star or two. How about Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, the Oak Ridge Boys, Emmylou Harris, Jerry Reed, Crystal Gayle, and Bob Seger? That was before he crumpled up the country competition in 1988 with his Diamonds & Dirt, an album that ran the charts with five #1 singles in a row.
David McClister
Rodney Crowell
Crowell was married to Memphian Roseanne Cash from 1979 until 1992. They are still cool. His album Street Language was produced by Booker T. Jones. He later wrote for the titans of modern country such as Alan Jackson, Keith Urban, Lee Ann Womack, and Tim McGraw.
His previous album, Old Yellow Moon, won the 2014 Grammy for Best Americana Album. Crowell’s latest is Tarpaper Sky.
Peters has written songs for Etta James, Neil Diamond, and Anne Murray. But the Country Music Association ranked her biggest hit, “Independence Day,” a song she wrote for Martina McBride, ninth in a list of the 15 songs that changed country music. Peters has released nine albums and was just inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Austinite Gilkyson came from a musical family. Her dad sang as a guest vocalist on the Weavers’ “On Top of Old Smokey” and wrote and sang songs for the Disney films of the 1960s. Her brother was a member of X. Gilkyson earned her own Grammy nomination and is a member of the Austin Music Awards’ Hall of Fame.