MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: EILEN JEWELL - SUNDOWN OVER GHOST TOWN

Jewell sings about small towns, both good and bad. On the positive side, in her number My Hometown (not Springsteen's), she tells us, "If sweetness has a sound, it would sound like my home town/The summer sprinklers turning on, the endless ice cream sound." But up next comes Needle & Thread, a place with four blocks of rust piles, one horse short of a one-horse town. This time, it's a sport where "the little boys learn to cuss before they can talk."


Recently Jewell has moved back to her own home town of Boise, Idaho, which has no doubt fed these examinations of place and connection, as well as a little more Western (or Mid-Western) in her twang. Pages certainly has a Western sound to it, and Green Hills is a tearful campfire number.


It's all pure Americana, the kind that examines little moments and everyday people and places. Jewell is a jewel of a writer, with little pictures and film moments in every song, never overblown and always thoughtful.