Eilen Jewell headed off to a shack in the mountains of Idaho to write her last album that will be released this summer. That might seem extreme to some, but for Jewell, it’s important to stay in touch with her Western roots to create her brand of music.
| If you go |
| Eilen Jewell |
| When: 9 p.m., Friday |
| Where: Iota, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington |
| Info: $15; 703-522-8340; iotaclubandcafe.com |
“The songs have a lot of Western imagery,” said Jewell. “A lot of the songs were inspired by what I was seeing and hearing at the time, so the songs have a lot of Western imagery. Writing them helped [quench] my homesickness for the West.”
Although Jewell and her band have gathered a following for their side project Butcher Holler, which pays tribute to the music of Loretta Lynn, Jewell is herself an elegantly powerful songwriter whose songs are filled with pedal steel and other classic country instrumentation.
Perhaps that’s not surprising when you consider she was something of a child prodigy, asking for piano lessons at age 7 and then following those with saxophone and violin instruction.
Age 7 is also when she wrote her first song. “It was about my dog that had passed away,” she said. “Then I wrote about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus when I was pretty little. There are still some songs [I wrote about 10 years ago] that I still perform today.”
The band behind her is key to creating her signature sound that lends itself to such musical diversity.
Consider the songs on this new, as yet unnamed, album. Although Jewell was ready to scrap some of them, once the group made their way into the studio, the band members helped pinpoint her musical concerns and rework them.
“We have a great relationship,” she said of her band. “Part of that is because we have been touring nonstop since about 2006, 2007. We’re also so different from each other. That can cause some annoyances, but ultimately it helps us balance each other out.”
That means walking a fine line that includes performing original material and as well as covers, including her rocking rendition of the classic rock tune “Shakin’ All Over.” Sure, moving beyond original work has helped Jewell stretch her vocal range, but it could also put the songwriter on a path she isn’t keen to constantly follow.
“Every live show has originals and covers,” she said. “I just prefer to stay out of the category of cover band. That’s hard, because it is fun to do covers. It also gets rid of the agony of ‘This is my song. I don’t know if they’ll like it.’ But we really want to mix it up a bit.”
