Eilen Jewell
An Americana singer-songwriter from Boise, Idaho, who built a following in Boston with her band and a minor-key sound, and whose third album Sea of Tears (2009) opens with "Rain Roll In".
Boise to Boston
Eilen Jewell was born in Boise, Idaho on April 6, 1979. She asked for piano lessons at seven, was writing and recording songs from eight, and took up the guitar at fifteen, inspired by Mississippi John Hurt and Howlin' Wolf records in her father's collection. She attended St. John's College in Santa Fe and busked in Santa Fe and Venice Beach. In 2003 she moved to Massachusetts, first Great Barrington and then Boston, busking briefly in subway stations before playing clubs. A fellow musician at a Boston show gave her the nickname Queen of the Minor Key.
In 2005 she made the live demo Nowhere in Time and held a Saturday residency at Tir na nOg in Somerville. Her debut, Boundary County, was recorded in December 2005; a friend passed it to Signature Sounds, which signed her, and it came out on March 30, 2006. Its founder Jim Olsen said it feels like reading a long letter from an old friend. Jewell has said that without Boston and its music scene she would not have a musical career.
Records and the road
Letters from Sinners and Strangers (April 17, 2007), the Heartache Boulevard EP (2007 or 2008), Sea of Tears (April 21, 2009), Butcher Holler: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn (July 27, 2010), Queen of the Minor Key (June 28, 2011), Live at the Narrows (2014), Sundown Over Ghost Town (2015), Down Hearted Blues (2017, covers including Alberta Hunter), Gypsy (2019, her first album on electric guitar) and Get Behind the Wheel (May 5, 2023, co-produced by Will Kimbrough) followed. She formed the Sacred Shakers, a gospel-blues side group with members of her band and the Tarbox Ramblers, in 2008, and has shared bills with Lucinda Williams, Loretta Lynn, Mavis Staples, Wanda Jackson, George Jones, Emmylou Harris and the Blind Boys of Alabama.
She toured the US, Canada, Europe, the UK and Australia, played SXSW and NPR's World Cafe (June 28, 2011), and returned to Boise around 2012. On February 15, 2026 she announced a possibly permanent break from touring after 2026, with PopMatters describing an indefinite hiatus from the road, mainly for her daughter, while recording continues; a cover of the Doors' "Soul Kitchen" and "Deportee" (March 24, 2026) came out as singles.
Albums
- Sea of Tears 2009 · Signature Sounds
Her third album: twelve songs with a rock edge borrowed from the early British Invasion, recorded and mixed by Chris Rival.
Songs
- Rain Roll In Sea of Tears · 2009
The opening track of Sea of Tears, one of the songs she plays most often in concert.
Sources
- Eilen Jewell, Wikipedia
- Eilen Jewell bio, eilenjewell.com
- Eilen Jewell interview, American Songwriter (2011)
- Eilen Jewell interview, 2026, PopMatters (2026)