Eilen Jewell
is a singer, band-leader and songwriter based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Born in Boise, Idaho on April 6, 1979, Eilen has been performing her brand of roots, blues, jazz and country influenced music in the greater Boston area since the Fall of 2003. [1]
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EILEN JEWELL TICKETS
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Early career
At age 19, Eilen began performing at farmer’s markets and local bars in
Santa Fe, New Mexico (as a college student at
St. John’s), before moving to
Los Angeles, California, where she became a fixture in the
Venice Beach street circuit. “Busking helped me learn to establish your boundaries as a performer,” she says. “Growing up in Idaho, everyone’s so friendly. It took me a while to not get too disturbed about what strangers might say or do.”
Move to New England
She then journeyed cross country to
New England in January, 2003 and settled briefly in the
Berkshire Mountains of Western
Massachusetts, where she got her start at the
Club Helsinki.
Eilen would often travel to old-time music jams near
Boston. There she was introduced to like-minded traditional musicians and music lovers including her current drummer Jason Beek. Eilen moved to Boston in late fall of 2003 and joined the folk and roots music community. Over the next two years she performed solo and with alternating personnel, playing at venues like Club Passim, Plough & Stars and Johnny D’s.
In early, 2005 Eilen began a Saturday evening residency at Tír na nÓg pub in
Somerville, Massachusetts, which lasted until 2007.
In December, 2005, with a band including Beek on percussion, Daniel Kellar on violin, Jerry Miller on guitars and upright bass player Johnny Sciascia, Eilen entered Chris Rival’s renovated 19th-century barn/studio to record
Boundary County
. That album received positive attention from clubs, radio programmers and the press.
[2] [3]
Summer 2007 brought Jewell’s first national release,
Letters From Sinners & Strangers
, recorded at the Signature Sounds studio in
Pomfret, Connecticut. The album reached the Top 10 on the Americana weekly radio chart in addition to being listed on some critics' "best of" lists for 2007. LFS&S continues to receive critical acclaim from around the world.
[4]
Eilen and her band continue to tour nationally behind the album making stops at NPR's World Cafe
[5], XM Radio, Mountain Stage, Woodsong's Old-Time Radio Hour, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Grassroots and many more radio stations, clubs and festivals.
2007 also found Eilen sharing the stage with a who's who list of Americana, Folk and Roots musicians. Among the highlights were
Loretta Lynn,
Chuck Prophet,
Chris Smither,
Fred Eaglemsith,
Jimmy LaFave,
Steve Forbert,
Holly Golightly,
Junior Brown,
The Hacienda Brothers,
Kris Delmhorst,
The Holmes Brothers,
Tom Russell and
Jack Williams.
2008 saw the release of a gospel album from her side project, The Sacred Shakers. Fellow members include Jason Beek,
Johnny Sciascia, Daniel Kellar and Daniel Fram. Early 2009 saw Eilen's second solo national release, "Sea of Tears". The Sydney Morning Herald (May 9-10, 2009) called "Sea of Tears" a "startling departure" blended by Eilen's "deft, warm voice". [1]
Discography
- Boundary County
(2005)
- Letters From Sinners & Strangers
(2007)
- Sea of Tears
(2009)
- "The Sacred Shakers" (side project) (2008)
Notes and references
1. The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), May 9-10, 2009.