Eilen Jewell and Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers
July 16, 2011
Club Helsinki
Hudson, NY

I was so happy with my recording of Eilen Jewell and her band at Club Helsinki last summer that I returned to Hudson (a four hour drive from home) to go see them again. Soundman Peter Lindstrom is a local legend, and while I never visited the establishment’s original location in Great Barrington MA, I certainly do love the hospitality, food and sound quality that characterizes their current club and restaurant in Hudson NY.

Zoe Muth and her first-rate band the Lost High Rollers, who hail from the Seattle area, kicked off the show. I had seen Zoe open for Eilen a few weeks earlier at Joe’s Pub in New York City. That was my first exposure to her music, although a friend had been badgering me to listen to her for quite some time. I bought her first CD after the show and have been playing it almost constantly ever since. I had the opportunity to talk to Zoe for a few minutes before her sound check and told her how much I’ve been enjoying her music, and she graciously consented to allow me to record her set.

When I went down by the stage to set up I found that another taper, Jim Lochner from Amherst, was also there to record the show. He told me he had listened to my recording from last year to get a feel for the room. After we got acquainted, I set up my Milab VM-44s and Oade PMD661 recorder with a freshly formatted 8Gb Sandisk SD card. I was horrified to discover during testing that the unit repeatedly died with a card error during recording. I inserted a spare PNY card, but obtained the same result (I later found out that this is a firmware issue with the recorder which I’ve since fixed). Jim was kind enough to offer to return to my nearby hotel after the show before his long drive home so that I could copy his files, and also gave me his blessing to edit and distribute the shows as I saw fit. He was running Sennheiser 8040 mics, which are dark for my taste but have excellent resolution.

We agreed that both sets were pretty fantastic, and I’m happy to share them here in their entirety. I’ve been a big fan of Eilen and her band for years, their live shows never disappoint and their lively set featured a generous sampling of songs from her great new CD Queen of the Minor Key. Zoe Muth has been a revelation, she sings with an aching beauty reminiscent of the young Emmylou Harris and writes songs in a traditional country style but with a modern sensibility. She looks to be what I’d hoped Tift Merritt would become after Bramble Rose, a contemporary songwriter with a heartbreaking voice working within a traditional country framework. I recommend both her albums on Signature Sounds very highly, her latest Starlight Hotel is just as good as the debut.

The stage at Club Helsinki is dimly lit and I didn’t get any decent pics from the evening, but here’s a photo of Zoe from elsewhere:

There’s a good video of her and the band here.

Zoe Muth – vocals, acoustic guitar
Dave Harmonson – pedal steel, electric guitar, vocals
Ethan Lawton – mandolin
Mike McDermott – bass, vocals
Greg Nies – drums, percussion

1. Tired Worker’s Song
2. Harvest Moon Blues
3. You Only Believe Me When I’m Lying
4. I Used to Call My Heart a Home
5. Before the Night Is Gone
6. The Running Kind
7. The Last Bus
8. Let’s Just Be Friends for Tonight
9. band intros
10. Hey Little Darlin’

Stream the set from this link.
FLAC files can be downloaded from this page.
A zipped file of hi-fi mp3s can be downloaded from here.

Please support the artist and buy Zoe’s albums!
www.zoemuth.com

Here’s a photo of Eilen and her band from SXSW a couple of years back. They don’t look much different except Jerry is sporting a beard these days and Jason is not:

Eilen Jewell – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, maracas
Jerry Miller – electric guitar
Johnny Sciascia – upright bass
Jason Beek – drums, vocals

1. Radio City
2. I Remember You
3. Warning Signs
4. Rain Roll In
5. Heartache Boulevard
6. High Shelf Booze
7. Hooked
8. Only One
9. Deep As Your Pockets
10. Rich Man’s World
11. The Girl That Radiates That Charm
12. Over Again
13. Reckless
14. Where They Never Say Your Name
15. Sea of Tears
16. Bang Bang Bang
17. Fist City
18. Boundary County
19. Shakin’ All Over
20. Santa Fe
21. Queen of the Minor Key

Stream the set from this link.
FLAC files can be downloaded from this page.
A zipped file of hi-fi mp3s can be downloaded from here.

Please support the artist and buy Eilen’s albums!
www.eilenjewell.com

House mix by Peter Lindstrom
Recorded by Jim Lochner
Mastered by Keith Bergendorff
Sennheiser 8040 (DINa, DFC 20′ from stage 6′ up) > Sound Devices MixPre > Sony PCM-M10 @24/44.1
USB > Adobe Audition/Algorithmix Red PEQ and K-Stereo (limiting on applause, EQ, mid-side adjustment, fades) > RME FF400 (D/A) > Manley Vari-Mu (light compression) > RME FF400 (A/D) > Adobe Audition (gain, dither) > CD Wave (tracking) > FLAC Level 8

Many thanks to Jim, Eilen, Zoe and Club Helsinki for making the preservation of this evening possible!