Hitting the sweet spot

Born in Boise, Idaho, and based in Boston, folk-country singer-songwriter Eilen (pronounced EE-lin) Jewell has found a home on the Americana music charts with her album "Letters From Sinners & Strangers." With help from her grooving roots band, which includes an upright bass and a steel guitar, Jewell delivers barroom tales and old-is-new-again melodies with a no-frills sensuality. Jewell was brought to the attention of Signature Sounds label president Jim Olsen by songwriter Peter Mulvey, who heard her play at one of his guitar workshops. Later, when Olsen went to hear Jewell perform, he was "knocked out - completely knocked out" by her distillation of country, folk, and blues. "She hits that sweet spot between Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, and Billie Holiday," Olsen says. Jewell and her band have been touring hard since July, and will head to Europe three times this year. Recent milestones include opening for Loretta Lynn and having the album listed among the Americana Music Association's top 100 albums of 2007. "Life looks very different now than it did a year ago," Jewell says. Tonight she performs at Fall River's Narrows Center for the Arts; Thursday she's at Club Passim in Cambridge. 8 p.m. $15. Narrows Center for the Arts, 16 Anawan St., Fall River, 508-324-1926. ncfta.org. [Charan Devereaux]