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Eilen Jewell at the Hook and Ladder Theater and Lounge. Photo by Jill Fisher.

Sometimes one doesn’t need to go searching for music that means something. Sometimes the opportunity to hear it just appears out of nowhere. 

This past week when I was visiting a longtime friend in St. Paul who was turning 75, I received an email from Eventbrite with a notice of a concert with Eilen Jewell taking place that evening, Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the Hook and Ladder Theater and Lounge on Minnehaha Avenue in Minneapolis. 

Housed in the former Firehouse #21, this adaptively reused station is also a venue for regular music performances. Since I’ve heard it praised by Twin Cities pals, I was game to stick around to check it out, particularly since Jewell has been on my radar for a couple years now.

Eilen (pronounced eee-lynn) Jewell came to my attention when a fellow music buff gifted me her 2017 Down Hearted Blues album on vinyl. One listen was all it took for me to become an instant fan. 
However, fan or not, I’m not one to traipse around the country following someone who happens to produce the kind of music I’m partial to. 

For one thing, there is so much great live music happening right here in our locale, who needs to travel for out-of-state concerts? And when a musician of this caliber — in this case, Jewell — is playing live in the area you happen to be visiting, you don’t pass up the chance to see her live.

The ticket price for general admission was affordable so I didn’t bother to ask for a press pass for Jewell’s concert. The venue was far smaller and more intimate than what I had expected. 

Entering from an alley/parking area on the north side of the building, you purchased your ticket and were admitted to the cavernous room that was partially divided between a sort of lobby that contained a small bar and more than sufficient room for merch sales. 

The performance and seating areas were off to the right with a 16 x 16-foot stage at the back. There were about 100 folding chairs in front of the stage, with standing room for perhaps another 30 or 40 people behind them There wasn’t a bad viewing location to be had and, for this concert at least, the sound was excellent. 

During the summer months an enormous tent situated directly behind the building is used for concerts.
Jewell is a singer-songwriter native to Boise, Idaho. She has recorded and released 13 albums to date, including 10 studio albums. The first one was the 2006 Boundary Country. 

It’s hard to believe I’ve just become aware of her in the past couple of years! I’ve some catching up to do, beginning with the album Gypsy (2019) I purchased at this concert. 

Her biography states she began her public performances by busking in Santa Fe, New Mexico, then spent some years in Boston before returning to her roots in Idaho. 

Through the course of her career, Jewell’s music has been classified as country, Americana and indie. 
However her music is categorized, it’s the interweaving of lyrics and melodies that makes it stand out. She is a multi-instrumentalist, playing both acoustic and electric guitars and harmonica, all of which was on display at this concert. 

She also contributed percussion, playing maracas on her first number. 

Her current touring band consists of Jerry Miller (electric guitar and mandolin), Matt Murphy (standup bass) and Jason Beek (drums, percussion and vocals). 

Miller, who is based in the Nashville area, has played with her for years and has contributed to all her records. Beek hails from Lowell, Mass., while Murphy is a Bostonian. 

These three gentlemen “cowboys” (they all were wearing Western hats!) were polished pros whose musicianship matched her nuanced and emotive vocals note for note. Beek’s sweet harmonies created both variety and depth to her compositions.

She started the first set with original tunes; first up was “Beat the Drum” from Gypsy. In it she intoned “if we don’t persist, all hope will die.” It sure seemed to be a message for our times. 

Two tunes, “How Long” and “Winne-mucca,” the latter of which referred to a town in Nevada, are on her album Letters from Sinners & Strangers (2007). 

As she introduced the song “Crooked River” from her latest album, Get Behind the Wheel (2023), she explained that she discovered she liked to write about specific places and this one was a tribute to her hometown in Idaho. She noted that she had traveled to all 50 states and had found that one can have relationships with certain places. And she said she felt she could have a relationship with MinneapoIis, which elicited appreciative cheers and laughs. 

I certainly share that sentiment as someone who has lived in that city and now cherishes my relationship to Duluth.

Jewell included a few covers in her performance. An early one was “Dusty Box Car Wall” written by Eric Anderson and recorded on the Letters album. Then it was back to some of her earlier work: “Rain Roll In” on her 2009 Sea of Tears, which I particularly enjoyed and “One of Those Days,” also on that album. 
Then it was back to some covers to end the first set: Woody Guthrie’s “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos” (AKA “Deportee”) and the Loretta Lynn hit “Mama’s Got the Pill.” It seemed that these songs were included as clear, if subtle, social commentary. 

After a short break, Jewell opened the second set with an instrumental number that showcased her backup musicians. The title track of Sea of Tears took us into the realm of heartbreak with its lyric “How many games will you make me play?”  

Then she sang a song not released on any album (that I could find) but which was performed on air, WYCE radio’s “Songs from the second floor.” She stated that this tune, “Santa Fe” was a true story; it was another heartbreaking tale.

“I Remember You” was another of her older tunes from Queen of the Minor Key (2011) as was “Half-broke Horse” from her 2015 CD Sundown Over Ghost Town about a horse that was “too tame for a Mustang.” Then it was on to a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 “Green River.” Jerry Miller took a few fun liberties with this song, including riffs from “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” and other classics of that era. 

I didn’t catch the title of the last official song of the concert, but I did note Matt Murphy’s excellent bass interlude. A standing ovation lured the band back to perform a cover of the Doors’ “Soul Kitchen” — with modifications that made the lyrics relevant to that evening’s concert.

Eilen Jewell’s vocals are pure, gentle and distinctive. She doesn’t need to holler to make an impact. Her quiet intensity shines through lyrics that are observational and insightful, personal yet universal. 
Though one reviewer has compared her to Lucinda Williams, my take is she’s more like the female equivalent of John Prine. I guess that tells how good I think she is. My hope is that we will get to see her in Duluth on one of her future tours. 

Perhaps she’ll find she can have a relationship with our zenith city of the unsalted sea.

UPCOMING: Second Sunday Blues Jam at R.T. Quinlan’s is still going strong, so blues players and blues lovers should definitely check it out. Next jam is this Sunday, Oct. 12, with the music starting at 5 and going to 8 pm. 

And do be aware of Wussow’s annual “One Week Live” event happening Oct. 13-18 with local talent intermixed with folks you probably have never heard before. It will be the 23rd recording of this annual event. 

There are also a couple of interesting looking concerts on the West Theatre’s schedule coming up: Jonathan Richman a singer-songwriter and guitarist who is apparently an eclectic musician with diverse credits as a proto-punker, folk, rock and influenced by world music. He will appear on Wednesday, Oct. 15, with drummer Tommy Larkins and his former Modern Lovers bandmate Jerry Harrison on keyboards (you may know his name from the Talking Heads).

Another artist who achieved visibility in the 1970s is Texan Shawn Phillips; that concert happens two days later on Friday, Oct. 17. See you there!