Eilen Jewell

Eilen Jewel evening turned out to be a good-un. In drips and droves we all turned up one after the other at the pub opposite Tingewick Village Hall where she was playing, The door of which displayed in bold red letters, TONIGHTS SHOW SOLD OUT. An excellent pint or three of Timothy Taylors Golden Best was consumed, the third of which was taken over the road into the hall. Some gig goers were carrying pitchers of beer over. A quick chat with the promoter Mike Trotman and then we sat down for a quick Chinese meal cooked in the pub which had for the evening set up for phone orders to the local area. 10 of us around the table and with added drink on top of it all came to the grand total off £83, not bad, and as I don’t like Chinese, even I liked it. This was probably because it was on the sweet side.
9pm came along so we all walked over to the hall, paid our entry dues, although I was on the guest list due to daughter No1 throwing out the tickets I had paid for some months earlier. Slight disappointment as four rows of seats had been placed in front of the stage and these were occupied already, fair enough as we were in the pub during the first act, but I was expecting to get a lot closer.
And then the band came on. And duly performed a great little set. I imagine she must have done 20 odd numbers of which I reckon six were covers. All songs were no more than 3-4 minutes long and as the reviewer below says, the first four were predetermined and then it was open suggestions.
They obviously had some difficulties on the M18 coming down from North Yorkshire, so Eilen said what a drag it was and that they were still affected by the two stationary wait on the motorway. She mentioned that it had some affect on them so I piped up ‘High Shelf Booze’ as it is a up tempo number and a drink was what she needed. Which is exactly what she did, and taking cue from me said something on the lines of good idea, and off they went to play it. After that it was a dialogue with the audience as to what to play next along with numbers that she wanted to do. Just very classy, changing her mind what to play as the mood, or the audience took her. The lead guitarist was very good to say the least, I just wonder if he is the same Jerry Millar from Moby Grape, also playing a Gretsch too. One small niggle, I think she needs either a keyboard or violinist to supplement the band as per her records just to give an extra dimension to the sound, but on the shoestring that they must make out of the touring, it has another person to divie it all up to.

It proves again that there is bloody good music going on in places you would never think of, and then at the same time millions are watching the non talented non entities that ‘perform’ on the X Factor. Why are the British public so gullible .but then why should I complain, it makes it easier for me.

Here is a review of one of her earlier London gigs at the Luminaire by a record collector, compiler and reviewer Roger Dopson, it could have been written for Tingewick


You have GOT to go and see Eilen Jewell! I saw her last night, at The Luminaire - awesome!! Those records really don't do her - or, more pertinently, her BAND - any real justice.

Live, the songs have a considerably harder edge to them and the band really rock. For example, 'If You Catch Me Stealing' - which on CD comes across as a mournful, doleful, reflective song - was played as heads-down Rockabilly. She's got her regular, long-time backing band with her, and - as you'd expect from American Country pickers - they're very much the Real Deal.

It's a trio: guitar, stand-up slap bass & drums. The guitarist is a kinda James Burton/Albert Lee/Dick Dale hybrid; the bass-slapper is classic doghouse (i.e. more slap than pluck!); and the drummer played most of the set on the snare and hi-hat. Pure Countrybilly!!

They made for an incongruous looking lot. Eilen (pronounced 'eelen') is a funny little thing. She came onstage with a 1920's haircut, wearing a dark grey twinset & pearls with cowboy boots, whilst the band looked just like a bunch of grimy truckers. They played for about an hour and three-quarters, including a couple of encores.

The place was rammed - and it was all people who were clearly familiar with her albums. She was a bit like Dale in that she opened with four or five songs, which she'd obviously pre-determined, but after that went with the flow, playing whatever people called out for. She even did a couple of Gospel numbers!

A genuinely memorable night!! You'll love her!