The Jewel Machine - From There to Infinity
Five-Song EP: The Man Who Walks Alone, Too Much
Silence, They Call Me By Your Name, Everyone, A Little Goes
A Long Way
It was near the exact geographical center of the
State of Tennessee that Ashlie Jewel and Terry McClain met. In the town of Murfreesboro TN, near the college, is an obelisk pinpointing that exact location. Although Terry
“The Machine” McClain was born near Boston,
Massachusetts, his family soon moved to Middle Tennessee.
They were not far from the childhood home of Ashlie Jewel, unbeknownst to one another, until one magical, mystical night, out by the old hollow, when everything changed.
From
There To Infinity EP by
love
duet, The Jewel Machine, blends the best of Appalachian
country music stylings, as found in song A Little Goes A
Long Way, featuring banjo, hand clapping and foot stomping
with Country music themes and harmonies, as in The Man Who
Walks Alone.
This album covers it all. Americana, Old Timey,
Country, Bluegrass, and Pop, all have a chemistry and a
wryness that as the verses weave, you realize that there is
something musically unique is going on between these two
artists. What they seem to be doing is working. It is
complicated but it just gels. On one hand you have a Pop
overture hybrid, that as the notes spill forth with depth of
phrasing you simply revel at the music logic. Then they
borrowed the best of Bluegrass, and created fast running
melodies that give you a thrill of the chase or are clearly
reminiscent of a train ride.
The EP mix also includes songs with a blend of
Irish folk sense, including melodic riffs that twist
slightly with a portion of Pop so intriguing and so faint
you barely realize it’s there until it spills over at you
unexpectedly, and then you love it.
McClain is a multi-instrumentalist playing guitar,
piano, drums, mandolin and banjo. When Ashlie first heard the
melodies and harmonies of the front porch music it shaped
her musical soul, and she became a self-trained folk artist.
The listener will be glad for this collaboration. This is
their first release with major distributor Orchard/Sony in
2017 with A.I.M. Artists In Music.
Review
by Barbara Meyer-Spidell
for Country Music News International