Eilen Jewell June 28, 2007

TWO SHOWS! 7:30pm and 10pm

When all the attention seems to be on fame, gold records, and which pop diva is dating which movie star, a headline in the Sunday Arts section of the Boston Globe called a largely unknown young singer-songwriter named Eilen Jewell "The latest local gem." Everything about the story seemed aimed at not just praising her music, but anointing the Idaho-born Jewell, with just one self-released CD, Boundary County, under her belt, as the next star to rise from Boston's rich and prolific folk scene. The story raised eyebrows because it was written by longtime folk critic, Scott Alarik, who's known for picking tomorrow's stars today. He was the first Boston critic to write about Ani DiFranco, Ellis Paul, Alison Krauss, Solas, Dar Williams, Eileen Ivers, and many other of today's biggest folk, roots, and Celtic stars. "Jewell's music has the languorous quietude of [Gillian] Welch or Norah Jones," he wrote, "but there is something more direct, almost in your face, about her stark, neotraditional melodies, subdued vocals, and confident, slow-swaying groove. It's as if she's daring us to say we miss the bells and whistles of pop." There was no doubt he meant to pick Jewell as a rising star. Similarly, the Boston Herald’s Daniel Gewertz, wrote that "If it were based on talent alone, Boston's Americana gem, the Eilen Jewell Band, would be huge."