Customer Reviews

Butcher Holler: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On last year's Sea of Tears, Eilen Jewell stepped up from folk and country sounds to electric twang. She dropped the fiddle and harmonica of her earlier releases and sang solo with a rockabilly-styled trio of guitar, bass and drums. That same trio format, with the thoroughly stellar Jerry Miller on guitar and pedal steel, is employed for this terrific salute to Loretta Lynn. The band plays blue and lightly rocking across a dozen covers, melding Jewell's jazz-tipped vocals with twang-heavy guitars and tempos that turn the ballads into sorrowful two-steppers and the rest into perfectly restrained rockers. You can hear Lynn in every track, but what you won't hear is Jewell copying the subject of her tribute.

Jewell isn't as feisty a singer as Lynn, which keeps "Fist City" and "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" from delivering the originals' heat. To be fair, Lynn wrote and sang these songs when such outspokenness, at least from a female country singer, delivered a shock and element of liberation that's not available to a contemporary vocalist. Jewell's cool approach works perfectly on the sly "You Wanna Give Me a Lift" as she brushes off an overly amorous suitor with the lyric "I'm a little bit warm, but that don't mean I'm on fire." For "Don't Come Home A- Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)," Jewell offers a promise of forgiveness in place of a half-cocked frying pan, and it works very nicely.

Lynn's originals are filtered through Jewell's influences, so while these new recordings pay homage to the hits, they're distinct interpretations influenced by the blue emotions of Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Connie Francis, and the torchy styles of Big Sandy and Julie London. Jewell sings most everything solo, doubling herself on the superbly forlorn "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" and leaving Miller's guitar to provide the second voice elsewhere. Miller's steel playing on "A Man I Hardly Know" is superb, and the bouncy "You're Looking at Country" closes the album on a convincing note: Jewell's a bit jazz, a bit blues, a bit rockabilly and a whole lot country. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Eilen Jewell and her band are re-cast here as Butcher Holler, letting you know this is a side project and not Jewell's "next album". While Butcher Holler is not a huge leap forward, it's no misstep. Like the Sacred Shakers gospel album (on which Jewell played a smaller role), this tribute to Loretta Lynn is a worthy addition to Jewell's varied and impressive catalog. It's clearly a labor of love, and executed with nary a blemish. While the cover art of Butcher Holler (named for Lynn's birthplace) mimics Loretta Lynn - Greatest Hits, this set concentrates on original songs rather than chart toppers. As with the brilliant Sea of Tears - my favourite album of 2009 - it's Eilen's singing that keeps your attention, with major support from the wonderful Jerry Miller on guitar. My only criticism - and it's a minor one - is the sequencing of tracks. Jewell's treatment of Fist City, an exemplar of Lynn's feistiness but not her best song, doesn't quite have the punch to open the set. ("I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" or "You're Lookin' at Country" were the obvious choices.) Jewell and band's economical, timeless retro sound is a perfect way to introduce the music of Loretta Lynn to a new audience, and to give it a fresh appeal to older fans.

Eilen Jewell channels Loretta Lynn on this disc. Her voice is perfect for this material and the backup band couldn't be more right. Every song on this disc is a tribute to Loretta Lynn without trying to be a copy of what she did. Eilen Jewell puts just enough of her own personality into the songs to make them hers without losing what made them great to begin with. This is the kind of music country radio should be playing today.

Don't get me wrong. The CD is a great listen. Jerry Miller's guitar work is superb. Eilen hits the notes just fine, and she has a lovely voice. The only thing that keeps me from giving this 5 stars is, well, it's just not Loretta. It is worth the price of admission though. Recommend it.

This is a great Album-I will be brief as most of the reviewers have hit the spot on this CD. Except, Eilen has a great style all of her own, and if you like her style (a little jazz, more blues, rockabilly, R&R, with a consistent country feel within all 4)she has a way to draw you in -to feel like she is singing to you directly, so well, in fact that I finally had to listen more closely to her lyrics (of her original recordings).BUT,she is NOT Loretta Lynn, and that it IS her creativity and inventiveness that enables her to do a great tribute to Loretta- but not try to imitate her; she is able to lift up her swagger in a way that does not mimic Loretta's (who can?)but it is there and you can here it all through this album. a simple example would be an early Rolling Stones cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away"-They sound great- BUT they are NOT Buddy Holly. On one of her own albums she does a version of "Shakin' All Over"- My immediate reaction before listening is that she could not pull this off- Then I listened to it- and she does. Her band is tight- See her live, Jerry Miller is one of the greatest LIVE guitar players you will ever see. This very gifted singer/songwriter is here to stay, folks-buy her albums or at least listen to the clips-

Billy Boy

This is a straightforward tribute with straightforward covers. No attempt has been made at original interpretations. If you are in love with Eilen's voice and have to have anything that features it, then you should buy this. If you are in love with her inventiveness and creativity, you will not find it here.