ON the Beat | Idaho State of Minding

Eilen Jewell at SOhO | Photo: Josef Woodard

Sometimes, serendipitous thematic themes sneak up on you when you least expect them. Over the weekend, I found myself, by coincidence or providence, in an Idaho state of mind.

Escaping and enjoying the rain on Friday afternoon, I checked out and was calmly dazzled by the film Train Dreams at the Riviera (see review here). Shortly after, I headed over to SOhO to catch the ever-lovable Americana artist Eilen Jewell, one of Idaho’s finest products. Come Saturday afternoon, I joined the eager, courageous crowd at the Arlington Theatre to sink into the nearly four-hour spread of Heaven’s Gate in its preferred uncut version. Jeff Bridges — part of the cast — and his wife Susan also showed up, briefly introducing this famous and infamous, and deeply Idaho-shot dark horse classic.

The Idahoan triple whammy triggered memories of my own few but fondly appreciated encounters in this underrated state of ours. In the way back, I played there with the Top 40 band Pet Project, settling into the Twin Falls Holiday Inn for a week, with day trips to the jagged beauty of Snake River Canyon. Not to date myself, but Evel Knievel had attempted to jump the chasm several years before our arrival.

Years later, I paid several visits to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho, which furthered my love and appreciation for the state, bounding with natural beauty and blessed with status as a great American “out of the way” place.

But I digress before even getting to the subject from which to digress.

Eilen Jewell at SOhO | Photo: Josef Woodard

The primary subject here is Jewell, a prize of a singer/songwriter, Loretta Lynn–lover, and bandleader — with an ever-creative killer of a guitarist, Jerry Miller (not to be confused with the Jerry Miller of Moby Grape fame). She has snaked her way through town over the years, at the legendary Lobero series “Sings like Hell,” the Live Oak Music Festival, and the mighty SOhO. If Jewell hasn’t yet scaled the heights of Americana superstardom, her fan base is a devoted one, as evidenced by the packed house. Her fans are a discerning bunch, knowing a good thing when they hear it and hoping for many happy returns.

Her exciting-yet-understated dinner set at SOhO was a happy return, indeed. Jewell may be an Americana artist, by default and genre association, but carves out a country-folk-rootsy place to call her own, strongly abetted by most excellent band. She wielded an acoustic and occasionally Telecaster guitar up front, with a large water table boldly imprinted with “IDAHO” on its label and sang the praises of her home turf in songs like “Crooked River,” one of many tunes drawn from her latest album, Get Behind the Wheel.

Although a bold songwriter herself, Jewell pays respects to musical sages as well, serving up cover tunes by Eric Andersen and Woody Guthrie, with his classic — and timely — immigrant-sensitive song “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” altered a bit by the singer “to make is a bit more sad and angry,” Jewell and her band are unabashed Loretta Lynn fans, and paid loving homage with her recently re-issued Lynn tribute album Butcher Holler (so named after the birthplace of the country legend). From that album, they called up the sweet waltz “Whispering Sea” and Lynn’s feisty feminist statement “The Pill.” Late in the set, the feminist angle continued with what Jewell called “our most-despised song,” “79 Cents,” about the unfair salaries given to women vs. men. For an encore, they dove into the spanking retro groove of “Learning to Forget,” another showcase for the crackerjack band.

Miller, the Tennessee-raised and Berklee School of Music–trained musician who has been a right-hand guitar comrade with Jewell for more than 20 years, was a secondary star of the show. He dished out his potent brew of twanging authenticity and a restlessly creative intelligence: No two solos were the same, and he brought a rough-around-the-edges quality to his solos which sometimes recalled Marc Ribot’s warped approach to roots music. Catching Miller in action is another reason to mark your calendars anytime Jewell and band show up in a venue near you.

On top of the delectable musical fruits savored at SOhO, Jewell served as the perfect middle ingredient sandwiched between Train Dreams and Heaven’s Gate. Some of us, in both the columnist and citizen categories, appreciated the “Idaho strong” framing device.

Blues in Hybridized Groove Mode

When the Santa Barbara Blues Society (SBBS) convenes for one of its occasional steamy nights in the history-sautéed Carillo Recreation Center, on Saturday night, the musical goods will be of the dance floor–friendly blues with “rhythm and …” attached. Bold Texas-born singer and saxist Vanessa Collier is making her first SBBS appearance, and her passionate old-school R&B instincts seem perfectly suited to the SBBS recipe. As heard on her sixth and latest album Do it My Own Way (hear here), Collier chases the power of both rhythm and blues spirit, joined by a kicking band. She counts as heroes the gospel fire starters Sister Rosetta Tharpe (check out her tribute song “Rosetta” from the new album) and Mavis Staples, Aretha Franklin, Sharon Jones, and James Brown.

We approve, in advance of a projected good time at the Rec.

To-Doings:

Irina Zahharenkova on piano | Photo: Camerata Pacifica

On the Camerata Pacifica front, last month, the luminously fine pianist Gilles Vonsattel launched an ambitious three-season long survey of the complete Beethoven sonatas — 31, count ‘em — with the demanding “Hammerklavier” Sonata. That sidebar plot continues in the January concert (January 16 at Hahn Hall).

For the next CamPac concert on the roster, this Friday, November 21, at the Hahn, attention steers towards a healthy mix of tradition, represented by evergreen crowd-pleasing Rachmaninov, and refreshing news from the contemporary and international corners. We’ll hear scores by the Icelandic composer María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, whose Aequora will be performed on piano and electronics by Estonian pianist Irina Zahharenkova, and celebrated Armenian composer Arno Babadjanian’s Piano Trio, with Zahharenkova joined by violinist Alena Hove and Santa Barbara County’s own cellist Ani Aznavoorian, of Armenian heritage.

With this program, CamPac generously brings on the world at a xenophobic time (in certain decision-making circles) when we need it most.

For avowed jazz heads and normal, well-balanced music fans alike, a dose of “Jazz at the Lobero” is in store on Friday, November 21, with the return of the Django Festival Allstars (see story here).

Speaking of the world beyond our borders, on the SOhO calendar this coming week, Santa Barbara Acoustic continues its fall series with Cuban-born guitarist Andres Vadin, a flamenco specialist, on Sunday evening. On Wednesday, Thanksgiving eve, the venue turns over to the annual tradition of gathering the SOhO-running Hansen family for a musical family gathering onstage and off, in the 14th annual “Hansen Family & Friends Songfest.” A hearty toast to an important family in Santa Barbara’s cultural harvest.