By Steve Siegel Special to The Morning Call
The warm air of a soft summer night was a perfect complement to the honey-dipped voice of singer/songwriter Eilen Jewell, who charmed a large crowd at the Levitt Pavilion at SteelStacks in Bethlehem Friday evening. But behind Jewell’s sugar-coated crooning lurk dark and threatening secrets.
With the sweetness of Billie Holliday, she sings of the mysterious and threatening. Cupid turns in his bow and arrow for a sawed-off shotgun in “Bang, Bang, Bang,” there’s seduction by bad voodoo in “Warning Signs,” and a broken bottle is wielded for protection in “Santa Fe.”
Yet any dark shadows cast by her compelling lyrics are soon dissipated by the upbeat vibes of her band’s 1960’s-style pop beat, with powerhouse drumming by Jason Beek and sizzling surf-rock electric guitar riffs by Jerry Miller, all grounded by upright bassist Johnny Sciascia, who slapped his strings with joyful abandon.
Those vibes also included a healthy dose of rockabilly, classic country, and even gospel. While most of the songs – rarely longer than two minutes each – were Jewell’s own, she sounded mighty fine in her covers of Loretta Lynn’s “Deep as Your Pocket” and “Fist City,” the country twang to her voice jiving splendidly with Miller’s soulful guitar work.
Jewell was at her smoldering, seductive best in her slow ballads, such as the sultry “Only One,” a bluesy mix of soul and jazz – a concert standout. She channeled Bob Dylan with her mouth harp accompaniment to “Rich Man’s World,” and bared her soul in the wistful “Boundary Country,” about her hometown in Idaho. With her take on the gospel classic “Twelve Gates to the City,” she evoked the soul of Billie Holliday.
There were some real rockers, too, the best being a smoking “Shakin’ All Over,” by Johnny Kid and the Pirates from the 1960’s. If that wasn’t retro enough, Miller even kicked in some way-cool riffs from early Stones, Doors, and Jerry Lee Lewis, if I’m not mistaken.
The only disappointment was the group’s encore, “Queen of the Minor Key,” the title track of Jewell’s latest album. This entrancing mix of rockabilly energy and softly-crooned vocals deserved better than the rushed and perfunctory performance it got here. But that’s easily forgiven – there was nothing minor about anything else in this splendid show.
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