Boundary County

Eilen Jewell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 4, 2006)
• Original Release Date: April 4, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: self-released
• ASIN: B000F5ZHE4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,804 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Boundary County

2. Till You Lay Down Your Heavy Load

3. Hey Hey Hey

4. Fourth Degree

5. Mess Around

6. Back to Dallas

7. No Place to Go

8. So Long Blues

9. Gotta Get Right

10. The Flood

11. Blow It All Away

12. Someone's Arms

13. You Can't Take My Song Away

Editorial Reviews

Boston-based artist Eilen Jewell puts her own beautiful stamp on old country, folk and blues and comes out sounding like the time-traveling, sweet-voiced lovechild of Bessie Smith, Gillian Welch, and The Be Good Tanyas. Her thick, warm voice and authentic country songwriting have led the Boston Herald to name her “Boston’s Americana gem.” Boundary County, inspired in part by her home state of Idaho, is Eilen's first full-length studio album. Recorded at Middleville Studio in North Reading, Massachusetts by Chris Rival in December, 2005, Boundary County features thirteen original compositions woven together with threads of loneliness, homesickness, regret, sinning, traveling, dreaming, hope, and redemption.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New Boston star, August 10, 2006

By 

Ian Williamson (Aberdeen Scotland United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boundary County (Audio CD)

A very laid back Album, very easy on the ear, definately a star in the making.

Very dificult to package a little bit folky and a little bit country roots/americana, very bare sound just a lot of voice, and little bit of guitar and drums very nice indeed especially later in the day after a bad day at work, relaxing music for adults.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stupendous, May 23, 2006

By 

waitingtoderail "waitingtoderail" (Roslindale, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boundary County (Audio CD)

I originally wrote this review for Rate Your Music on May 10, 2006

So sometimes my tendency to be early when I want to be somewhere works out for me. It was the Harvard Square May Fair last weekend, and I was excited because the lead singer of Clem Snide was playing, and I'd heard great things about them. I was well early because I wanted to walk around the fair a bit. I picked up a couple of cd's at one booth and had a terrific Indian meal of chicken tikka and goat curry (a first for me).

Anyway, when I got to the main stage, a local hip-hop band was playing, but I wasn't into it, so I walked back around the fair. When I got back, the next band was setting up, and there was a fairly cute girl who was the lead singer, apparently, so I decided to stay. A truly fortuitous moment, because by the time she had finished her second song, I decided that I had found the next big thing.

Eilen Jewell has a voice a smooth as silk, somewhere between Billie Holiday and Norah Jones, and sings songs that sound just like Gillian Welch or Lucinda Williams. A big standup bass and fiddle in the background completed the scene. I was immediately taken and rushed over to buy this cd. I was shocked to learn that she was a local artist (albeit transplanted from Idaho - Boston doesn't have much of a country scene), and performed regularly at a tiny Irish pub in Somerville named Tír na nÓg.

As good as her show was, this is even better. Terrific production values and even better songs, which sound like drinking a sloe gin fizz while watching the Mississippi roll by. Although this is credited as a solo release, she employs a full band and was labeled on the fair guide as "The Eilen Jewell Band." Brush drums, banjo, violin and upright bass, along with her smooth voice make for a relaxing, laid-back feel, but it is never dull, even upbeat at times, as on Track 6, "Back to Dallas," or especially on Track 9, "Gotta Get Right."

Neither is she afraid to tackle controversial subjects, Track 10, "The Flood," rips the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. "The water takes them/Not one life line/Everyone just standing/Ringing their hands and crying//Can anyone among us please explain/What went down on the banks of the Ponchartrain?/No sir I don't believe it was the hurricane/That lay New Orleans to waste."

I consider this to be one of the finest, most enjoyable, alternative country albums of the year, and in contention for my favorite album of ANY genre of the year. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than great, March 26, 2008

By 

Keith Materi "Uncle Keith" (Upton, WY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Boundary County (MP3 Download)

What a treat this album is. The voice resemble something you may have heard on your parents turn-table. It is the album that when played demands all who are in earshot to stop dead and try to place which emotion this brilliant singer has tapped into. There is not a bad song in the bunch. Reminiscent of a cliche smoky bar where the beautiful singer who can actually sing throws sad and correct notes glitzy and demanding audiences. Backed by slinky, sometimes twangy acoustic guitar, throbbing bass, and a dash of electric cut, this album is fresh, and at the same time familiar with what you always knew great music should and could be.