EILEN JEWELL’S OPEN-EARED AMERICANA VISION OF ‘SUNDOWN OVER GHOST TOWN’ ALBUM STREAMING AT ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, OUT NEXT WEEK ON SIGNATURE SOUNDS

JEWELL ADDED TO AMERICANA MUSIC FESTIVAL AT NASHVILLE’S CITY WINERY SEPTEMBER 17

Entertainment Weekly is streaming Eilen Jewell’s new album ‘Sundown Over Ghost Town,’ out next week on Signature Sounds. EW writes, “Packed with vivid lyrics, steel guitars, and hot licks, Jewell’s Americana-driven brand of country music sounds tailor-made for sweltering, stagnant summer nights."

Jewell’s acoustic guitar sports signatures by her living heroes Wanda Jackson, Emmylou Harris, Mavis Staples, Loretta Lynn, and Lucinda Williams. Immediately after one notices that these are all strong women, one can see the variety of music in Eilen’s personal canon. That broad-eared Americana approach has bled into Jewell’s own music. In concert, Jewell will cover material as varied as Lynn songs, “Drop Down Mama” by blues great Sleepy John Estes, rock n' roll classic “Shakin’ All Over,” Stonewall Jackson's country classic “Why I’m Walkin’,” Eric Andersen’s “Dusty Boxcar Wall.” As a bandleader and writer, her musical experiences have culminated in new album ‘Sundown Over Ghost Town,’ out May 26 on Signature Sounds. Jewell has been added to the Americana Music Festival with a show at Nashville’s City Winery on September 17 in addition to many other tour dates listed below.

“Hallelujah Band” is based on two true stories from Eilen’s life growing up: “The first is about an experience I had as a teenager with my best friend. Her boyfriend somehow knew of an unmarked, underground cave in the middle of the desert. We climbed down there with flashlights in our teeth and hiked around for hours. There was water down below and freight trains up above. It was a religious experience for me that has stuck with me to this day. Something poignant like that happens and you realize what a big life it is, what a glorious world. I may not be worthy but I’m going to join in anyway. And the second story in that song is about how, when I was a little girl I had a secret land that I would go visit. It was just a little indentation in the ground, and I’d sit on the pine needles with my doll. But it carried a lot of importance for me and still does.” Meanwhile, the refrain pays tribute to her love of gospel music, which she also performs in side project the Sacred Shakers.

Eilen Jewell Tour Dates

May 23 - Grass Valley, CA - Strawberry Music Festival
May 27 – Eureka, CA - Palm Lounge at the Eureka Inn
May 28 – Winters, CA - The Palms
May 29 - Berkeley, CA - Freight and Salvage
May 30 - Santa Cruz, CA - Kuumbwa Jazz Center
June 10 – Portland, OR – Alberta Rose Theatre
June 11 – Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
June 12 – Palmer, AK – Palmer Musk Ox Farm
June 13 – Soldotna, AK – Kenai River Festival
July 3 - Berwyn, IL - Fitzgerald’s American Music Festival
July 8- Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
July 9 - New Haven, CT - Cafe 9
July 10 – Greenfield, MA – Green River Festival
July 11 - Hudson, NY - Club Helsinki
July 12 - Woodbridge, NJ - Woodbridge Country Sundays
July 14 – New York, NY – City Winery
July 16 – Washington, D.C. – The Hamilton
July 17 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live
July 18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café
July 19 – Wakeman, OH – Music at Riverdog
August 7 – Challis, ID – Braun Brothers Family Reunion
August 9 – Bozeman, MT – Sweet Pea Festival
August 22 - Liberty, UT - Ogden Valley Roots & Blues Festival
September 3 – Collinsville, CT – Bridge Street
September 4 – Charlestown, RI – Rhythm & Roots Festival
September 9 – Portland, ME – Port City Music Hall
Stepember 16 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle
September 17 – Nashville, TN – City Winery (Americana Music Festival)
September 19 – Tampa, FL – Skipper’s Smokehouse
September 20 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic

THE AMERICAN SONGSTER DOM FLEMONS TO HOST LEAD BELLY TRIBUTE AT THE KENNEDY CENTER, FEATURING ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS

Dom Flemons – a founding member of the GRAMMY-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops – has been announced as the host of “Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster,” a one-night-only show taking place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. on April 25 at 8:00pm.

The show, which is produced by the Kennedy Center and the GRAMMY Museum, features Flemons as master of ceremonies for a star-studded lineup of talented artists, including Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Buddy Miller, Lucinda Williams, and Valerie June.

Huddie Ledbetter, or Lead Belly as he was known, is a folk blues legend who has influenced countless artists from Nirvana to Led Zeppelin. He ranks among other pillars of American folk music such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

 “Lead Belly showed me there was a strong secular black folk song repertoire, separate from the blues,” Flemons says. He continues, “Lead Belly’s legacy can show us something that is truly human in music. I’m honored to have the opportunity to pay tribute to someone who has had such a strong influence on me.”

Lead Belly has received newfound attention this year with the release of “Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection” box set and documentary film “Legend of Lead Belly,” which has aired on the Smithsonian Channel.

Flemons pulls from traditions of old-time folk music to create new sounds. Having played music professionally since 2005, he received acclaim, including a GRAMMY win and nomination, as part of the African American string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops. His most recent album, “Prospect Hill,” his first since leaving the group, has received praise from The Boston Globe, Paste Magazine, and Living Blues Magazine, and he has been featured on NPR’s “Fresh Air with Terry Gross.”

Event link here.

“EVOCATIVE” (CMT EDGE) EILEN JEWELL UNVEILS MOST PERSONAL ALBUM TO DATE AND FIRST IN FOUR YEARS WITH VIVID, CINEMATIC ‘SUNDOWN OVER GHOST TOWN’ MAY 26 ON SIGNATURE SOUNDS

Eilen Jewell had to move back to her hometown of Boise, ID for ‘Sundown over Ghost Town’ (May 26 / Signature Sounds) to turn out as her most personal record to date, a meditation on home. Written north of Boise in the mountains of Idaho, Jewell’s fifth album sees the songwriter coming into the most emotional writing of a career filled with vivid, evocative, metaphorical imagery. Jewell says, “I’m more comfortable in my own skin, have a clearer sense of who I am and the kind of music that I want make.”

Check out the first single “Rio Grande,” as premiered by CMT Edge, here.

The wide-angle landscapes where she wrote and recorded ‘Sundown Over Ghost Town’ seep into the music: waters rush through gorges and canyons, falls plunge down rugged cliffs, and Rocky Mountains towering above wide-open vistas. With influences that range from Mavis Staples to Marty Robbins and from Sleepy John Estes to Loretta Lynn, her broad-eared approach to Americana lends itself to a cinematic sound.

Jewell’s influences come from the literary world as well as the musical world. She cites poets Mary Oliver and Miller Williams along with novelists John Steinbeck and William Faulkner as favorites who’ve made an impression on her style. “One can use imagery as vehicle for talking about anything,” she says simply. A pair of those images stand out on an album full of them:

“A lucky horseshoe in a pile of junk…”

“A half-broke horse… too wild for this world, too tame for mustangs…”

Jewell has opened for Loretta Lynn and Lucinda Williams and sold out headlining concerts this winter in NYC, Boston, and DC. NPR.org has said, “She’s got a sweet and clear voice with a killer instinct lurking beneath the shiny surface.” USA Today has proclaimed, “Give me more of that voice… Dark and haunting… but alluring just the same.”

Stay tuned for announcement of a nationwide tour.

FOR PRODUCER COLIN LINDEN, WORKING WITH EDEN BRENT "AN HONOR" & "LIKE GOING TO THE CARNIVAL"

NEW AMERICANA ALBUM 'JIGSAW HEART' OUT MAY 6 ON YELLOW DOG RECORDS

Producer Colin Linden has worked on sessions with Lucinda Williams, Lindi Ortega, T Bone Burnett, Keb Mo, and Diana Krall and backed Bob Dylan on stage, but he's never seen anyone quite like Eden Brent. The acclaimed performer and producer exclaims, "Working with Eden is sort of like going to the carnival because you never know exactly what you're going to get, but you're going to have a really good time. I always feel with Eden that she's giving the real genuine article; she's herself at all times." As a result, there was never a moment in the studio when the tape wasn't rolling. "I think Eden is one of the real greats," he adds.

Describing his recording approach, Linden observes, "She's such a spontaneous artist and such a spontaneous person that for me, the really important thing is getting her when the moment strikes her. The records have a tremendous amount of drama just built into the circumstances but there's also a sense of candid performance just capturing something as it happens, as opposed to contriving a circumstance like a portrait. It's more like a candid shot."

Following their field trip to New Orleans to record her 2010 album 'Ain't Got No Troubles,' the three-time Blues Music Award winner Brent decided to mix in some Nashville flavor. "I trust Colin implicitly," she says, continuing, "I sort of wanted for this project to involve some folk or country instrumentation, and just see how maybe that could make my sound a little different and make me grow a little."

Linden brought in players with whom he's long had a rapport and who could hang with Eden, both musically and socially, giving the band instant chemistry with her. He attests, "She's such a cool person to hang out with. I wanted to just be able to bring other people who she would enjoy hanging out with to the party and I think that you hear that in the music. Part of what gives us the feeling that I think is important on the record is that we're all in pretty close physical proximity -- just a few feet away from one another.  If the arrangement changes, you can telegraph the other players by just looking over at them. There’s kind of a freedom to be spontaneous."

EDEN BRENT CONFIRMS 'JIGSAW HEART' TOUR DATES WITH NEW AMERICANA ALBUM OUT MAY 6

Eden Brent — the acclaimed singer/pianist/songwriter who has been compared to Lucinda Williams and Norah Jones — has confirmed new tour dates soon after the release of her new album 'Jigsaw Heart' (May 6 / Yellow Dog Records). The new album is her most heartrending to date and was recorded at historic RCA Victor Nashville Sound Studios and produced by Colin Linden (Williams, Lindi Ortega). CMT Edge says that 'Jigsaw Heart' "sounds like it could've come out of 1970s Nashville."

She kicks off the string of dates with a New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival appearance May 2 at 12:25pm in the Blues tent.

5/2/2014 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
5/7/2014 - Nashville, TN- Family Wash
5/8/2014 - Memphis, TN - BB King's (afternoon)
5/9/2014 - Memphis, TN - Center For Southern Folklore
5/14/2013 - New York, NY - Iridium Jazz Club
5/15/2014 - Washington, DC - Hill Country
5/24/2014 - Sedan, KS - Chautauqua Hill Blues Festival
5/25/2014 - Kansas City, MO - Knuckleheads Saloon
5/30/2014 - Charlotte, NC - The Double Door
6/13/2014 - Chicago, IL - Buddy Guys Legends
6/14/2013 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Blues Fest ("Meet Me In Memphis" Stage)
6/21/2014 - Flagstaff, AZ - Flagstaff Blues & Brews
7/9/2014 - Clymer, NY - Peek'n Peak Resort

American Songwriter premiered the video for "Everybody Already Knows."

ON WAVE OF ACCLAIM FROM NY TIMES, USA TODAY, & ROLLING STONE, KEVIN GORDON PERFORMS AT OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD MARCH 29

Kevin Gordon, the southern rock and roller and poet who is the subject of a recent NY Times feature, will perform at Otto's Shrunken Head on March 29. He also earned four stars (out of four) in USA Today and three and a half stars in Rolling Stone, which said, "The smarts on 'Gloryland' never undercut the roots-rock rush. Dude's a juke-joint professor emeritus."

In the Times piece, Lucinda Williams said, "He’s writing songs that are like short stories, and I really like the kind of swampy, bluesy sound."

Meanwhile, Gordon also earned a rave from Oxford American, which said, "'Gloryland' should enhance his already sizable reputation as a poet-songwriter and an impassioned performer."

Philadelphia Inquirer called 'Gloryland' "unforgettable"; Blurt labeled it "astonishing"; and American Songwriter spoke of is as "vivid." No Depression said, "If you love Americana and you're only going to buy one album this year this is the one to buy."

Further out, on April 20, Gordon will open for John Prine at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ.

Check out video of Gordon live in NYC in January:

Here's a segment from NPR Here & Now on Gordon.

WHO: Southern rock & roll songwriter Kevin Gordon

WHAT: New York show

WHERE: Otto's Shrunken Head, 538 East 14th St., (212) 228-2240

WHEN: 10:30pm, March 29, 2012

TICKETS: Suggested donation $5

KEVIN GORDON EARNS NY TIMES FEATURE, RAVES FOR FIRST ALBUM IN 7 YEARS

LUCINDA WILLIAMS ON GORDON: "SONGS LIKE SHORT STORIES"

Kevin Gordon – the southern rock & roll songwriter and poet – has earned a feature in today's New York Times under the headline "A Musician Or a Poet? Yes to Both," including Gordon talking about his love of poets Richard Hugo and Denis Johnson.

Peter Applebome also spoke with Gordon fan Lucinda Williams, who told him, "He’s writing songs that are like short stories, and I really like the kind of swampy, bluesy sound."

That's not all we're reading about Gordon and 'Gloryland,' his first new album in seven years.

"'Glorlyand' [is] an often harrowing tour of the back-roads South with scenes of burning churches, a serio-comic brawl after a ZZ Top concert in Shreveport, La., and — most memorably — the time the Klan showed up when his seventh-grade marching band performed about 90 miles from there in Colfax."
- Peter Applebome, New York Times, February 22, 2012

"Four stars… The sheer brilliance of the lyrics to Colfax/Step in Time alone justifies a top rating for the first album in seven years from this Southern-raised poet/rocker. Gordon sketches a not-so-simple portrait of a junior-high marching band on a bus trip, and every single image feels, tastes, smells and sounds absolutely true."
- Jerry Shriver, USA Today, February 14, 2012

"Glory, Glory, Hallelujah."
- Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, February 16, 2012

"Astonishing… He knows exactly how to build and sustain interest in a song… The guitar crackles with electricity, the voice manipulates supple rhythmic shifts to make the words fit the spaces they are given. Here we are reminded that Gordon went to graduate school as a poet. He's learned a lot from other singers, but his poetry skills are stronger than most in the songwriting game.
- Steve Pick, Blurt Magazine, February 14, 2012

"Four stars… Vivid… [Gordon] tells these Southern-based tales so exquisitely that they resonate with his listeners. 'Gloryland' certainly stands as a glorious example of Americana songwriting."
- Mike Berick, American Songwriter, February 14, 2012

"Impressive… nuanced insights set alongside snarling slide guitar, rugged riffs, [and] gospel choruses."
- Mitch Myers, MAGNET, Issue 84

SOUTHERN MUSIC'S POET LAUREATE KEVIN GORDON PLANS FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 7 YEARS 'GLORYLAND' FOR FEB 14 RELEASE ON CROWVILLE MEDIA

Bug Music artist Kevin Gordon – the southern rock and roll songwriter who has been covered by Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Irma Thomas, and others and who has recorded a duet with Lucinda Williams – will release 'Gloryland' (February 14 / Crowville Media), his first new album in 7 years. It's a new high water mark for Gordon, representing his most powerful, fully realized writing to date. Early buzz on the album from Peter Cooper in the hometown Tennessean has focused on the song "Colfax":

"We'll empty your spit-valve for life if you find us anything more stunning than 'Colfax,' [Kevin Gordon's] undeniably superb song that could only have come from one mind, and from one person's experience. It's ostensibly about a kid in the marching band but winds up being about the heart of American darkness and the steel that it takes to move beyond."

Drawing comparisons to a southern Bruce Springsteen, 'Gloryland' depicts heroic and anti-heroic characters tackling choices of faith, individual responsibility, and the positive force of art.

Other highlights from the album include "Pecolia's Star," a duet with Sarah Siskind written in tribute to African-American folk artist and quilter Pecolia Warner; the bracing rocker "One I Love," reminiscent of The Hold Steady; the coming-of-age blues "Bus To Shreveport"; and the steady grooving, Dylanesque "Gloryland."

'Gloryland' was produced by multi-instrumentalist and Dove Award winner Joe McMahan (Freedy Johnston, Allison Moorer) and mastered by Gavin Lurssen (T Bone Burnett).

Gordon has earned the respect of press and his peers. Of Gordon's music, Buddy Miller said, "It reminds me of why I love music. I get transported to a beautiful, strange, familiar place. It's where the best music comes from. Deep and soulful."

HBO's "True Blood" licensed his song "Watching the Sun Go Down" and his duet with Lucinda Williams "Down To The Well" has appeared on an Oxford American Music Issue compilation album.

No Depression has called Gordon's music “dirty and beautiful." All Music Guide said, "Kevin Gordon has earned the reputation as a storytelling leader." Entertainment Weekly said, "He evokes the scorching guitar intensity of Springsteen."

Born in Louisiana, Gordon has a master's degree in poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and he now runs a gallery of contemporary self-taught/folk/outsider/vernacular art in Nashville, TN: http://gordongallery.net/

KEVIN GORDON – GLORYLAND

1. Gloryland
2. Don't Stop Me This Time
3. Colfax/Step in Time
4. Pecolia's Star
5. Black Dog
6. Trying to Get to Memphis
7. Bus to Shreveport
8. Nine Bells
9. Side of the Road
10. Tearing It Down
11. One I Love