TRACK 11
“Only One”
from Eilen Jewell’s Queen of the Minor Key (Signature Sounds)
Liner notes: Best known as an alt-country artist, Jewell (not to be confused with the ’90s diva) channels jazz siren Billie Holiday on this torch song, as shimmering electric guitar and organ cast a late-night spell.
Behind the music: Boise-born and Boston-based, the versatile former street busker performs gospel in a side project, The Sacred Shakers, and released a Loretta Lynn tribute album last year. She wrote the songs on Queen of the Minor Key while holed up in an Idaho cabin without electricity or running water.
Check it out if you like: Progressive traditionalists such as Neko Case, Buddy Miller, and Lucinda Williams.
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Front page image: Marcel Houweling/Flickr