Episode 040: Eilen Jewell
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I first heard Eilen (rhymes with feelin') Jewell's music as she was playing at the Green River Music Festival in Greenfield, Massachusetts in the summer of 2006. Jewell was playing an outdoor stage, under a tent, with a myriad of activities going on around the festival property for both kids and adults, but the crowd was listening with rapt attention...not an easy thing to do when playing in such a setting!
Jewell's debut album, Boundary County, was self-released in 2005 and she subsequently signed to Signature Sounds, which released Letters from Sinners and Strangers in late June 2007. Jewell is playing live in the coming months at various points around the US.
Her music bridges a number of different worlds, including folk, country, blues, and jazz. If this isn't Americana at its most intertwined, I don't know what is. Jewell is often compared to singers such as Billie Holiday, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, and she cites them, and Hank Williams, as influences, too. I also hear a bit of Mary Margaret O’Hara in Jewell’s voice.
Jewell's band consists of Jason Beek on drums, Jerry Miller on electric and steel guitar, and Johnny Sciascia on upright bass. The group's secret weapon is guitarist Miller, who can take the band from folk to blues to jazz to soul all within a single song. Other musical guests on the disc include Daniel Kellar on violin (formerly of the Tarbox Ramblers, who I interviewed a few years back) and Alec Spiegelman on clarinet, both of whom help Jewell’s music stretch into new territories.
At a recent live performance at Boston’s Lizard Lounge, I thought, if you closed your eyes for a minute, the music really could transport you back in time about 60 or 70 years...
I recently met with Jewell in Somerville, Massachusetts to discuss:
* what events in her childhood influenced her to start playing music
* all the places Jewell has lived over the years before finding herself in Boston, Massachusetts
* how the subject matter in traditional folk, country, and jazz music have influenced her own kind of storytelling
Photo credit: Jennifer Lucey-Brzoza
Songs from Eilen Jewell highlighted in the interview include:
1) Blue Highway (in preview) (from Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
2) Rich Man's World (Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
3) Gotta Get Right (Boundary County)
4) Someone's Arms (Boundary County)
5) Boundary County (Boundary County)
6) Mess Around (Boundary County)
7) Too Hot to Sleep (Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
8) Dusty Boxcar Wall (Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
9) Heartache Boulevard (Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
10) If You Catch Me Stealin' (Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
11) How Long (Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
12) Where They Never Say Your Name (Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
13) Hey Hey Hey (Boundary County)
14) Thanks a Lot (Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
15) Walkin' Down the Line (Letters from Sinners and Strangers)
16) Back to Dallas (Boundary County)
If you enjoy this episode, give a listen to other interviews I've done with musicians working in the blues, folk, jazz, and Americana realm, including Merrie Amsterburg, Sarah Borges, Howard Fishman Quartet, Frank Morey, Tarbox Ramblers, Josh Ritter, and Dan Zanes.
Eilen recommends Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind, Edward P. Jones' The Known World, and C.W. Stoneking.
Well-Rounded Radio recommends John Doe's A Year in the Wilderness.
