Eilen Jewell has carried Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee” with her since she was a teenager, haunted by a memory of a six-year-old girl singing along with mournful clarity. Now she has recorded her own version, transposed to a minor key and stripped to the verses that cut deepest. “It’s disheartening to think that Woody Guthrie wrote ‘Deportee’ nearly 80 years ago and it still rings true,” Jewell says. “What can I do but join him in fighting fascism the only way I know how, with my conscience, with my guitar, with my voice.” The result is as anguished and purposeful as the song demands.
The release arrives alongside a deeply personal announcement. After 2026, Jewell is stepping away from the road, at least for a while. Twenty years of touring, stages shared with heroes, friendships forged from Auckland to the Arctic Circle, and a gut feeling that it is time to stop. “I need some time for a new exploration, to try to be the kind of mother I want to be, and to stop moving long enough to let my soul catch up with me,” she writes in a statement that is honest, graceful, and entirely her own.
The remaining 2026 dates read as a farewell worth showing up for. The run opens at New York’s Iridium on March 31 before moving through the Northeast, Florida, California, and closing in November with four consecutive nights across Massachusetts and New York, finishing at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock and the Center for the Arts of Homer.
American Songwriter calls Jewell “one of America’s most intriguing, creative and idiosyncratic voices.” BBC Radio praises her understanding of rock, gospel, folk, and country as “profoundly deep and darkly mysterious.” Both descriptions hold. These remaining shows are the ones that will matter.
Eilen Jewell 2026 Tour Dates:
March 31 â New York, NY â Iridium
April 1 â Sellersville, PA â Sellersville Theater
April 2 â Woodbridge Township, NJ â Avenel Performing Arts Center
April 3 â Washington, DC â The Hamilton Live
April 4 â Easton, MD â Avalon Theatre
April 25 â Tampa, FL â WMNF’s Tropical Heatwave
July 31 â Novato, CA â Hopmonk Tavern
November 15 â Plymouth, MA â Spire Center for Performing Arts
November 17 â Boston, MA â City Winery Boston
November 18 â Northampton, MA â The Iron Horse
November 19 â Northampton, MA â The Iron Horse
November 20 â Woodstock, NY â Levon Helm Studios
November 21 â Homer, NY â Center for the Arts of Homer