12/22/2025
Eilen and the band are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Robert Elliott. It is safe to say that if it wasn’t for Robert, you might not be reading this or anything Eilen Jewell related. That’s him stage right watching the band in the first couple shots. A long time ago, Robert heard us play and instantly offered us a Saturday early evening residency at his small, but warm and legendary Irish pub, Tir Na nOg. It was there that we honed-in the show and the sound and the idea of playing a show week after week, let alone night after night for weeks. We built a local following there. We made friends that have lasted a lifetime. It really helped propel us into our early career.
Robert was a no bu****it kind of man. When a bar brawl broke out in the middle of our set, he shouted keep playing! In 2006, when I thought it would be a cute idea to book our first West Coast tour by myself, Robert gave us some good leads. He was always in our corner. When we lost a Boston Music Award to a band from Rhode Island, he quickly grabbed us from the award ceremony and threw us into a cab and took us to his bar to feed us and fill us full of booze. Anybody in town with any sense at all in the music scene knew Robert. He used to throw a musician’s appreciation dinner at the bar every year. I remember standing in the chow line behind Peter Wolf one time.
We were lucky enough to know Robert a little bit outside of the music business as well. He was a ruthless and tireless supporter of music, the local music scene, and any good music worth telling someone about. If he believed in an artist, he would do all he could to let everyone know about them. He was sweet and tough. So many laughs. I’m so damn thankful for the opportunity to have clocked-in some hours over my many revolutions on this planet with Robert Elliott. I have a lot of love for him even though one time he made me finish a big boy bottle of Jameson with him before he paid me for a show in at Precinct leading to the biggest hangover of my life and it was before a gigantic tour that we were about to fly out for or som**hing.
My sincere condolences to his family and friends and bandmates. Rest in peace Robert. - JB