Honky–Tonk Heroine Eilen Jewell
by Peter Aaron
With a voice as gorgeously warm and arid as the West Texas desert and a crack band that’s among the best in the business, Eilen Jewell is speeding to the top of the Americana movement with the same velocity as the horizon–heading freight trains that fill her magnificent songs. Her self–released 2005 debut, Boundary County, swells for mile after lonesome mile with aching tracks of barren beauty and sweet, desolate sadness. Last year’s follow–up, Letters from Sinners and Strangers (Signature Sounds), kicks things into hotter climes by adding more elements of jazz, blues, rockabilly, and western swing to Jewell’s heartbroken honky–tonk sound. After playing storming shows to packed rooms at the Rosendale Cafe and The Pig in Saugerties earlier this year, Jewell and her quartet return to favorite haunt Club Helsinki in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, on May 31. www.eilenjewell.com.
You’re originally from Boise, Idaho, which isn’t particularly known as a musical or cultural hotspot. What was it like growing up there? How did you get exposed to the types of real American roots music you ended up playing?
Boise was a great place to grow up. If you love the mountains and countryside, like I do, there’s plenty of that to keep you busy. Although there are a few musicians from Idaho out there—such as Rosalie Sorrels, Josh Ritter, and Pinto Bennett—it’s really not known for its music scene. Most of my musical exposure was from my dad. He had old Howlin’ Wolf, Mississippi John Hurt, and Bob Dylan records that I dug out of the garage and got curious about. Once that curiosity started, it just led me to discover more and more of those early artists: Woody Guthrie, the Carter Family, Hank Williams…they’re all linked up in a big musical family tree so it didn’t take much to go from one branch to the next.
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