ArtYard and the Frenchtown Bookshop are excited to announce that Eilen Jewell, a singer/songwriter whose eclectic retro Americana music brings frequent comparisons to Lucinda Williams and kd lang, will perform 8 PM on Friday, July 7 at ArtYard’s McDonnell Theater.
The Eilen Jewell Band rambles across a wide swath of classic Americana genres. Her original songs, as well as some thoughtful and dusty covers, draw from Texas dance-hall honky-tonk, vintage country, bluesy torch songs, early R&B, and gospel traditions. It is no wonder that one of her 12 albums is named, “The Queen of the Minor Key.” Another album, “Butcher Holler,” is a tribute to one of her heroes, Loretta Lynn. Her album “Down Hearted Blues” honors the blues music of Little Walter, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, and Memphis Minnie, among others.
Eilen delivers the songs with a languid and achy voice, described by NPR as “sweet and clear…with a killer instinct lurking beneath the shiny surface.” According to the Los Angeles Daily News, she is “sometimes as darkly damaged as Lucinda Williams, at others as defiant and teasing as prime Peggy Lee and always authentically Americana in the Gillian Welch tradition…She’s mighty good.”
The band features the legendary lead guitarist Jerry Miller, who has played blues, country, rockabilly, folk, jazz, and surf with a pantheon of well-known performers Acoustic Music Magazine said, “Miller’s reverby twang tells so eloquently his instrument’s history: Dick Dale, Duane Eddy, 60’s pop, Western swing, country soul.” Drummer Jason Beek and slap-style upright bass player Johnny Sciascia complete the group.
Tickets are $35 per person. Doors open a half hour before the performance.
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