Eilen Jewell

Butcher HollerSignature Sounds ****

Subtitled "A tribute to Loretta Lynn", this short album (11 of the 12 tracks are under three minutes) is a heartfelt tip of the stetson to the earthy 1960s country star. Lynn, who was brilliantly portrayed by Sissy Spacek in the biopic Coal Miner's Daughter,was raised in a Kentucky townland called Butcher Holler before she married her longtime husband, Doolittle, at age 13. Her story is one of rags to riches, but it is also about honesty, endurance, hurt and love. Because she dared to sing of her dark reality, many of Lynn's songs were controversial and even banned from some US radio stations, but she prevailed. Jewell's weary voice, devoid of artifice, performs songs such as Fist City, I'm a Honky Tonk Girl, Don't Come Home a Drinkin'and You Ain't Woman Enoughfor what they are: missives from the frontline of heartache, 50 years on, but still packed with raw emotional power. See eilenjewell.com

Download tracks:Fist City, You Ain't Woman Enough