land of milk and honey

Land of Milk and Honey finds Eliza Gilkyson at her most outspoken, turning the singer-songwriter tradition into a vehicle for social and political commentary without sacrificing the intimacy and emotional depth of her music. From the Iraq War–era awareness plea “Hiway 9” to her stirring interpretation of Woody Guthrie’s previously unrecorded peace anthem “Peace Call,” Gilkyson confronts war, injustice, greed, and the uneasy political climate of the early 21st century head-on.

The record was made with the belief that socially conscious songs could still be deeply personal. Rather than approaching the material as straightforward protest music, Gilkyson weaves political concerns into character-driven stories and vivid observations, allowing the larger issues to emerge naturally from the lives and experiences at the heart of the songs. Her acoustic-rooted arrangements give the album an earthy immediacy, while the performances retain the warmth and vulnerability that define her songwriting.

“Hiway 9” captures the restless feeling of a country moving toward war, while “Peace Call” connects Gilkyson’s contemporary concerns to the long American tradition of musical protest. By bringing Guthrie’s words into a new recording, she creates a direct musical bridge between generations of socially conscious songwriters.

Gilkyson describes the album as “music for a generation that won't stand idly by while its vision for improving the quality of life on earth seems ever clouded by a dust-storm of politics, power, greed and global unrest.” Land of Milk and Honey embodies that philosophy: thoughtful without being passive, political without losing its humanity, and rooted in the belief that a song can still challenge, comfort, and inspire.

The result is an album that captures a particular historical moment while remaining remarkably relevant—a collection where folk music’s longstanding tradition of bearing witness meets Gilkyson’s own distinctive voice as a modern songwriter and activist.