Eilen Jewell (photo by Joanna
Chattman)
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BOISE, Idaho — Eilen Jewell laughs when
told her label’s president called her a musicologist. But she
confirms she and her husband and bandmate, drummer Jason Beek,
have a passion for studying American music.
“We really love to uncover the past. It’s
almost like digging for buried treasure,” she says. “For me, that’s
where music is at. I like all kinds of music as long as there’s the
word ‘early’ in front of it.” For her new album, Down Hearted
Blues, releasing Sept. 22, 2017 on Signature Sounds, she and Beek unearthed
12 vintage gems written or made famous by an array of artists both
renowned and obscure, from Willie Dixon and Memphis Minnie to
Charles Sheffield and Betty James. Then, like expert stonecutters,
they chiseled them into exciting new shapes and forms, honoring
history while breathing new life into each discovery.
Known for what allmusic.com describes as a
“country-flavored and blues-infused version of contemporary folk
(which also can include healthy doses of rockabilly and surf),”
Jewell’s discography includes several albums of original material
and one of Loretta Lynn covers. Jewell has also recorded two albums
with her eight-piece gospel-group side project the Sacred
Shakers. But this latest effort,
which she and Beek co-produced, with engineering by pianist/banjo
player Steve Fulton and Pat Storey, is her first
collection of blues — despite the fact that she credits the genre
for igniting her musical curiosity in the first place.
That’s because, even though she’s dreamed of
recording a blues album since discovering Howlin’ Wolf as a Boise,
Idaho, teen, Jewell had to convince herself she could — and should.
“I’ve always had this sense of self-doubt about
it,” she admits. “Like, who am I to sing the blues? I’m a white
girl from Idaho. I don’t know if I have a right to do that.” But
she also remembers an old
friend’s advice: “Everyone has the right to do what they love in
this world, regardless of who they are and what background they
come from.”
Finally, she tired of waging her internal battle
and decided to let the “do what you love” side win. It was a wise
choice — particularly because she’s hardly appropriating or
imitating anyone’s style; on the contrary, Jewell makes each song
her own, while paying homage to her beloved inspirations. It also
should be noted that American blues music, like its country of
origin, is a melting pot of influences, and that all music evolves
from what came before — and that, by recording these songs, she’s
helping to strengthen the legacy of those who created and
popularized them.
Some of them she heard while listening to her
husband’s Radio Boise show, Spoonful. The pair also cite
John Funke’s Backwoods, on Cambridge’s WMBR-FM, as a source
of discovery. In fact, the couple’s mutual attraction to musical
obscurities led directly to their relationship. A friend who knew
of their common interest made the introduction, correctly guessing
they’d hit it off.
That happened in Boston, where Jewell lived for
nine years after leaving Boise to attend college in Santa Fe, New
Mexico, then migrating to Los Angeles and finally, to the East
Coast. Jumping into Boston’s roots-music scene, she began hunting
for a guitarist. Beek pointed her to Jerry Miller, a
bona-fide Boston legend known for his versatility. They’ve been
playing together ever since; she chose some Down Hearted Blues
tracks, such as “Crazy Mixed Up World,” a Dixon tune recorded by
Little Walter, and Albert Washington’s “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” to
showcase Miller.
On the latter, his notes bend around her supple,
dramatic minor-key vocals, which slide in after a punchy sax and
bass intro. Jewell, who titled a previous album Queen of the
Minor Key, says its “scary, creepy” tone fit right in with so
many songs they’ve done, it already felt like an old friend the
first time she heard it. That horn, by the way, comes courtesy of Curtis
Stigers, a fellow Boisean who had several soul hits before
segueing into jazz. A fan who
pumps her music through the PA before his own shows, he also sits
in with her band when they’re both in town. (Jewell and Beek moved
to Boise in 2012 to be closer to her family and start their own.)
“He played with us at a local festival and we
loved what he did so much we asked him, very spur of the moment, to
come to the studio and record with us. He literally dropped what he
was doing and said, ‘I’ll be there in 15 minutes,’” she recalls,
marveling about how he created a horn section with overdubs —
chartless, on songs he’d never heard.
He’s also on “You Know My Love,” another Dixon
tune popularized by Otis Rush. Jewell’s torchy rendition emphasizes
its spooky message: “You think you’re gonna get on with your life,
but there’s this thing between us that will never die; it’s always
gonna come back and haunt you.
Laughing, she says, “I can definitely attest to
that being a real thing in life.”
Other picks, such as Dixon’s “You’ll Be Mine,”
have a more personal connection. She came to it through Howlin’
Wolf, whom she found while rooting through her dad’s garage-stashed
album collection. The minute she heard him, she says, “I knew what
I was supposed to be listening to.”
By then, she had absorbed the classics —
Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Doors — and noticed her favorite rockers
had something in common: they were influenced by early blues
artists. Down the rabbit hole she went, finding Bessie Smith,
represented here via the Lovie Austin and Alberta Hunter-penned
title tune Smith turned into a hit, then Memphis Minnie (“Nothing
in Rambling”) and “Big” Maybelle Smith (“Don't Leave Poor Me”).
“I’m always drawn toward anything that women
accomplish in the musical world, especially of previous eras,”
Jewell says. “It was amazing that women could do anything back
then, when it was so frowned upon.”
Jewell, who also plays guitar and Hammond organ
on these tracks, claims she’d be happy singing nothing but Big
Maybelle songs — if they weren’t such a heavy vocal workout. On the
propulsive “Don’t Leave Poor Me” she practically dares her voice to
leap up high and swoop down low before stepping aside for the
pulsating guitar-and-percussion bridge.
Her easy glide from note to note on the
back-porch picker “Nothing in Rambling” contrasts with that style —
and with lyrics expressing the difficulties of life on the road (a
life that now includes daughter Mavis, already a world traveler at
age 3) — further highlighting the smooth/raw dichotomy inherent not
only to this album, but the genre itself.
While Jewell doesn’t exhibit whiskey-scratched
vocal tendencies, she can certainly make a gutbucket lose some
splinters — or beguile with silky sexiness. It’s as if she’s doing
a one-woman play, slipping into a different persona with each song
— a feat that becomes even more impressive when she reveals these
tracks were recorded in only two days, live, and that Miller and
upright bass player Shawn Supra hadn’t even heard some of
them beforehand. That’s how spontaneous it actually was. They just
happened to book some studio time during a free day in Boise, and
had so much fun playing these songs they decided to make an album.
“It really felt serendipitous, like what was
supposed to happen was happening,” Jewell says. “I finally
gave myself permission to do what I wanted to do, and the
universe supported me.”
EILEN
JEWELL U.S. TOUR DATES
Thurs.,
Aug. 10 Bellingham,
WA Subdued Stringband Jamboree
Fri., Aug.
11 Portland,
OR Mississippi Studios
Sat., Aug.
12 Ashland,
OR West Coast Country Music Festival
Wed., Aug.
23 Woodbridge,
NJ Woodbridge Wednesdays
Thurs.,
Aug. 24 Fairfax,
VA Evenings on the Ellipse
Fri., Aug.
25 Raleigh,
NC Stag’s Head; co-bill with Jeffrey Foucault
Sat., Aug.
26 Black
Mountain, NC
Jam in the Trees
Sun., Aug.
27 Decatur,
GA Eddie’s Attic
Wed., Aug.
30 Charlotte,
NC Neighborhood Theatre
Thur.,
Aug. 31 Richmond,
VA The Tin Pan
Fri.,
Sept. 1 Kennett Square, PA
Kennett Flash
Sat.,
Sept. 2 Jim Thorpe, PA Mauch
Chunck Opera House
Sun., Sept.
3 Hudson, NY
Club Helsinki
Mon.,
Sept. 4 North
Truro, MA
Payomet Performing Arts Center
Wed.,
Sept. 6 Portland,
ME One Longfellow Square
Thurs.,
Sept. 7 Exeter, NH
The Word Barn
Fri.,
Sept. 8 Turners
Falls, MA The Shea Theater
Sat.,
Sept. 9 Collinsville,
CT Bridge Street
Fri., Oct.
6 Mifflinburg,
PA Rusty Rail Brewing Company
Sat., Oct.
7 Blairstown,
NJ Roy’s Hall
Sun., Oct.
8 Ithaca, NY
La Tourelle
Tues.,
Oct. 10 Boston,
MA City Winery Boston; matinee show (4 p.m.)
Thurs.,
Oct. 12 Washington,
DC The Hamilton
Fri., Oct.
13 Philadelphia,
PA World Cafe Live; w/ Miss Tess
Sat., Oct.
14 Piermont,
NY The Turning Point
Sun., Oct.
15 New York, NY City
Winery
# # #
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