Once in a great while, you put on a CD by an artist you've never heard of before and time stops. The voice is new, yet timeless. The lyrics are all original yet feel immediately familiar, lived-in, knowing. And the melodies expertly performed by a first-rate band carry the easy groove.
This is the story of Eilen (rhymes with feelin') Jewell and her new album Letters From Sinners and Strangers, which promises to show the rest of the world what the buzz is about.
Jewell's achingly hushed style and intimate grasp of roots music's are revealed in the CD's provocative, melodic originals and timeless country and blues classics. Set to a swaying, irrepressible groove, the subdued emotion in her soft soprano feels like music straining beneath skin. And the band evokes classic country, folk and swing without feeling nostalgic. Nothing about roots is retro in Eilen Jewell's universe.
