Whether you're in town for Festival of the Cranes or whether you live in Socorro, come out and enjoy gifted singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson and her special guest, Ellis Paul. The pair will perform on Friday, Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m., in Macey Center.

Before the concert, Tech Club–Club Macey holds a social, 5-7 p.m., in Macey Center. Light snacks will be offered. TCCM is a social club for people age 21 and over. There is a $5 cover charge for non-members.

Eliza Gilkyson is a politically minded, poetically gifted singer-songwriter, who has become one of the most respected musicians in roots, folk and Americana circles.

The Grammy-nominated artist has appeared on NPR, Austin City Limits, Mountain Stage, etown, XM, Air America Radio and has toured with Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin and Mary Chapin Carpenter. In February 2003, she was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame.

In 2006, Gilkyson was recognized with three Austin Music Awards and four Folk Alliance Music Awards, one of which was for "Song of the Year" for her tune "Man of God." A scathing indictment of the Bush administration's use of religion to manipulate the public, the song has become a political anthem to many and has received wide airplay around the world.

Recently, Eliza's meditative tune "Requiem," written as a prayer for those who lost their lives in the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia, was recorded by the nationally recognized choral group Conspirare and was nominated for a Grammy. It was also featured on NPR's All Things Considered.

Eliza is the daughter of legendary songwriter Terry Gilkyson and grew up in Los Angeles knowing that her life would revolve around music.

"I got into it for all the wrong reasons, more as a survival tool than anything else, but it proved to serve me more than I dared to imagine," she said.

As a teenager, she recorded demos for her father.

At the end of the '60s, Eliza moved to New Mexico with likeminded souls, eventually raising a family, all the while developing a loyal fan base in the Southwest and Texas. She cut numerous records including "Pilgrims," released on Gold Castle Records in 1987. It was her most successful to date, but it also gave her a reputation as a new age artist due to its atmospheric nature — a brief departure from her folk-driven roots.

After a period in Europe working with Swiss composer and harpist Andreas Vollenweider, Eliza returned to the United States and released several albums to critical acclaim before signing with internationally recognized roots label Red House Records.

Eliza's special guest for the evening, Ellis Paul, is one of the leading voices in American songwriting. He was a principal leader in the wave of singer-songwriters that emerged from the Boston folk scene, creating a movement that revitalized the national acoustic circuit with an urban, literate, folk-pop style that helped renew interest in the genre in the 1990s. Ellis' charismatic, personally authentic performance style has influenced a generation of artists away from the artifice of pop, and closer toward the realness of folk. Although he remains among the most pop-friendly of today's singer-songwriters — his songs regularly appear in hit movie and TV soundtracks — he has bridged the gulf between the modern folk sound and the populist traditions of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger more successfully than perhaps any of his songwriting peers.

Tickets for the concert are $14 adults, $12 senior citizens, and $10 youth 17 and under. Tickets are available at the door or in advance at N.M. Tech Cashier's Office (second floor of Fidel Center), Brownbilt Western Wear, Sofia's Kitchen, and Video Shack.

The show is part of New Mexico Tech's Performing Arts Series. New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union partners with PAS to present the show. The show is also sponsored by Blue Corn Music the record label owned by Denby Auble, a New Mexico Tech alumnus and member of the Vigilante Band. Other local sponsors are IRIS/ PASSCAL, Brownbilt Shoes and Western Wear, and Howard Johnson's of Socorro.