Eilen Jewell and her band return to Skipper's Smokehouse!

Duane, Linda and I last saw Eilen Jewell and her band perform almost exactly two years ago at Skipper's Smokehouse.  When we heard she was coming back, we knew we wanted to see her show again.  Besides her terrific voice and songwriting, Eilen has a top-notch band.  We had all noticed when we last heard them that the guitarist, Jerry Miller, was a stand-out.  This time around, Jerry Miller and the rest of Eilen's band played as the second act after a group from Gainesville called Nook & Cranny played.  Nook & Cranny was a good band for an opener.  The girl singer had a big voice and the band featured some nice solos from the violinist (or I guess I should say 'fiddle player'). 

Jerry Miller has released a CD of his own music -- mostly instrumentals -- and his songwriting ability is on par with his playing.  Really enjoyed his part of the show.  Then Eilin came on and joined the band.  As usual, her distinctive voice rang true and clear in the night air.  She sang a mix of songs from all of her records and took requests.  A great show by all involved.

Eilin on the right.

Before the concert, we had our dinner at Skipper's.  Nothing like a good reason for some fried shrimp, hush puppies and key lime pie.  REAL key lime pie with graham cracker crust.  Yum.  The three of us were pretty stuffed by the time we finished eating.  It's a good thing we don't go to Skipper's too often.  Our waistlines couldn't handle it.

While eating we noticed that Eilen and her band were having dinner on the outside area of part of Skipper's.  I had my back to a screened window on my side of the booth but Linda got a quick shot of Eilen waiting for her dinner.  That's her on the right.  We're so subtle.



I wish I had remembered to bring my camera -- not that that means I would have gotten any good shots -- but Linda did get close to the band with her phone and shot several.  The pic below was the best of the ones she took during their performance.   If Eilen and her band come your way, they're terrific in concert, so make a point to check them out.

Eilen and her band performing.