Freelancer Ethan de Seife interviewed Rickie Lee Jones via email and contributed this report to Seven Days.
Rickie Lee Jones has been surprising and charming listeners
since the late 1970s with her distinctive voice, unique phrasing and
deft musicianship. She has steadfastly refused to be pinned down by any single
genre, ranging instead across jazz, folk, rock, popular standards and numerous
other forms. Her fans are devout.
Jones' most recent album, The Devil You Know, is her first
since 2009’s Balm in Gilead. On it she has elected not to
showcase her own fine songwriting skills but those of others: Every one of the
album’s 12 songs is a cover, including material by the Band, Tim Hardin, Neil Young and the Rolling Stones. Against the backdrop
of producer Ben Harper’s stark, mysterious arrangements, Jones uses her
remarkable voice to reinvent every single song, rendering them both welcoming
and unfamiliar at the same time.
In an email interview, Jones discusses her
changing voice, the costs and benefits of recent sea changes in the music
industry, and her relationship with live audiences.
SEVEN DAYS: How did you choose the songs for The Devil You
Know? Are there any links between them, besides your admiration for them and that you plainly enjoy singing them?
RICKIE LEE JONES: I don’t love all these songs, but [The Band’s] “The Weight”
and [The Rolling Stones’] “Sympathy for the Devil” were and are pretty strong,
and unique, live and so I decided to record them so folks could hear them sung
a different way.
SD: Which of the songs do you
feel the closest connection with and why?
RLJ: The two mentioned. And I like the Van Morrison song
[“Comfort You”]. Of course, “St. James Infirmary” is a song my daddy used to
sing to me. But I did it differently for Ben Harper’s production.
SD: You're known as one of the great interpreters of popular
song. Do you have a "theory" of musical interpretation? That is, what
makes for a good or successful interpretation of an existing song?
RLJ: If you hear it inside your head a certain way, then you are
meant to sing it. But why bother singing it the way somebody already did
it perfectly? Remember, it’s all about singing, being happy that you get
to sing a song. It’s not so serious, after all. Just sing it how you feel
it.
Then again, I did not really like the Neil Young song I
did [“Only Love Can Break Your Heart”]. I have Young songs I love, but this was
not one of them, and I had no real line on it. Ben liked it very much, but
this was a case of me going with his feelings. I still have mixed feelings
about it.
SD: Some of the arrangements on the album are pretty stark, even
eerie. Why use that kind of "filter" to essay these songs?
RLJ: I guess at this point I am such a control freak that I
cannot relinquish the control, and so the very heart, to a drummer and
bass player. I hope this phase will end soon.
SD: How has your previous musical work led you to the particular
artistic statement you make with The Devil You Know? Does this album
specifically build on or refer to your musical past?
RLJ: It’s all part of a whole. Each leads to the next. It’s all a
response. It’s all expression of a time in my life.
SD: As your voice has changed, do you find yourself, as a
singer, drawn to different kinds of songs? And how have you kept your voice in
such good shape?
RLJ: Yes, I think so. High end is gone now; low has taken its
place. Must be careful not to relinquish femininity for all these
wonderful low tones. With menopause and feelings of doubt, I can find myself
hanging out in the low register. I have the youth still in my voice, in my
heart, and the low tones can bring a kind of emotion, as the high notes do for
youth ... to the song.
Women with low tones and voices evoke a certain courage and
contentment, I think. So it’s not an elixir but a highly concentrated, magical
thing that must be used sparingly, as much as it’s so fun to see how low you
can go. Anyway, sounds good.
SD: I'm sure everyone asks you this, so please forgive this
longtime fan: Your phrasing is so unusual and distinctive. How did it evolve?
Which singers, if any, shaped your phrasing?
RLJ: I think I sit behind the beat so far because, in fact, I
speak slowly, and I like how it feels to be there. ... Being right on the
beat seems so ... impersonal.
SD: How have the changes in the recording industry changed your approach to
making music, and to being a professional musician?
RLJ: Well, I guess we can get the money directly from fans now.
That would be good. Lotta people in the middle been making a lot of money and
not giving much to the artist. Trickle-down record checks. Now the money
will come, can come, directly to me, not half or more to the record
company, who you then have to audit, if you can make enough money to do
so.
SD: What are you listening to these days? Do you listen to music in different ways now?
RLJ: I really listen mostly to the same old stuff, though I am
delighted to hear and understand new music, its place in the lives of young
people today; why they like mechanical voices. Why they like beat and no
relief. What does it mean? It’s not my language, and I listen to it with
great interest. Then I go home and put on my old records.
SD: I've seen you perform only once — at First Avenue in
Minneapolis, circa 1997. A great show, but I remember some audience members
being a little rude, since they were used to music a little more raucous than
yours. I imagine that your upcoming show in Vermont will attract a different
kind of crowd. How do you "feed off of" your audience, for better or
worse, when you're performing?
RLJ: I cannot pretend that I don’t hear them and feel them. Nor
they with me. If I am in the right venue, we have a holy night. If not, I have
to stop and listen until they remember where they are and stop talking. But
that doesn’t happen often. Even in joints, I find they are very respectful and
interested and captivated. It’s kind of awesome, and I do not take it for granted. Love my job.
SD: You are allowed to listen to only one album for the rest of
your days. Which album is it, and why?
RLJ: I think “On the Road” by Canned Heat. Just that song.
SD: How does it feel to be regarded as an inspiration to the
many younger singers who have cited you as an influence?
RLJ: FEELS GOOD. I would sure like to read that, because I still
have not actually read any who cite me, though of course I figure they might. Well, I don’t read many articles about folks, I guess.
Rickie Lee Jones performs on Friday, October 18,
7:30 p.m., in the Alexander Twilight Theater at Lyndon State College in
Lyndonville. $39/49. catamountarts.org/shows/an-evening-with-rickie-lee-jones/
Photo of Rickie Lee Jones courtesy of Astor Morgan.
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