New York, NY (Top40 Charts) We took on reviewing the plain-talking, minor key composing, Idaho-born-and-bred Eilen (pronounced eee-lin), with her eclectic mixed bag of blues, country, folk, a strange kind of rockabilly mixed with a drop of jazz style of music. Confusing? Yes indeed, since her bio calls this musical Crayola box,
Roots Noir, but our plus-1 on the night said the sound was more like Americana, "... but not really. Mmmmmaybe it leans more toward
Roots with some country-on-shrooms… I dunno." Great!
Anyway, there we found ourselves, in the nice press seats the fine folk at CW had for us, when out on the stage walked… A Cool Hippie Mom and her neighbors from the travelin'
America RV park-and-ride. A small band - just 4 musicians, the lady herself on guitar/s and harmonica (sometimes), legendary guitar great Jerry G. Miller, her drummer/collaborator par excellence, Jason Beek, and slapping that upright bass, Matt Murphy, who was a joy to watch, as well as listen to.
Now, while it is true that the vague Americana bucket into which Eilen
Jewel is most often dropped is not this reviewer's usual cup-o-tea, musically, in the long run, for writing a review, it really is not WHAT you do, but HOW you do it, and we are happy to report that Eilen's HOW was terrific, and HOW. With her earth mother demeanor, a sweet face from which proceeded a soft plaintive speaking voice, juxtaposed to her rich soulful singing voice, she was a performer who performed without performing. She and her boys made the entire evening feel as though they had just "sorta" wandered in off the street, found Review: Eilen Jewell Celebrates Her
Roots In Americana With Some
Jazzy Blues, Country, Folk … Stuff At City Winerythese instruments on the stage, and just started playing because they thought that would be fun… and it was. This casual manner put the room in an easy state, ready to absorb her songs more than just listen. Kicking off with CROOKED RIVER (from her latest album GET BEHIND THE WHEEL), she was a balladeer singing heartache and strength, with Beek's perfectly twangy backup vocal. HARD TIMES was a literal cry of depression that could well have been about "The Depression" with its repetitive boxcar driving through the dustbowl rhythm. LETHAL LOVE, another song from her latest album, had a danceable beat and cool syncopations reminding one of 1960s thigh-high boots on
Nancy Sinatra as she sang with Lee Hazelwood. Each of Eilen's bandmates took turns on jazz-influenced improv solos - Jerry Miller, so cool, moving nothing but his flying fingers over his guitar, and Matt Murphy, jamming with his six-foot upright bass dance partner, all with Beek's beats under them, supporting them and holding the structure. In fact, Jason Beek may be one of the subtlest beaters of the drums this boy has heard in a long time. His rhythms were ever present, always felt but never overbearing to his partners.
So relaxed was the atmosphere, through it all, that the crowd felt no compunction about shouting out titles they wanted to hear, and so relaxed were the performers that Eilen would just say, "Oh you wanna hear that… mmmmOK," and off they would go with MILES TO GO, or personal fave of the night, ONE OF THOSE DAYS.
That relaxed feeling that permeated the big room of City Winery had its origin in the lady herself. She came to make music and, hopefully, make people feel good. Her unscripted talking to the audience was always gentle and sweet and, then, without warning, laugh-out-loud hilarious, while never trying to land jokes or to "be funny" - she simply spoke truth, her truth, our truth, and one just had to laugh. The fact that we in the house found anything she said funny always seemed to surprise her, but not enough that she couldn't just roll with it. That's what Eilen Jewell and her band came to do and did - just rolled with it.
So, in the end, what is this, as we wrote above, "eclectic mixed bag of blues, country, folk, a strange kind of rockabilly mixed with a drop of jazz" style of music that is Eilen Jewell? Well, if one were to categorize it… you couldn't. Is it any one of these music genres? Ummm No. Is it all of them together? Ummmmmaybe... but with something extra that comes from Eilen's heart and soul. If this writer were to give it a name, the best that comes to mind (and one that is meant as high praise) would be...Roadhouse Chic! Did Top40-Charts' queer little ear find a new music fascination? That may well be, as we intend to investigate more of this Jewell we have discovered, but, for now, we give Eilen Jewell's performance at City Winery a resounding...
