It was that breakout appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1979 that first introduced the world to Rickie Lee Jones. She performed “Chuck E’s in Love” and “Coolsville” from the self titled debut release that later won her the Grammy for Best New Artist. That was followed up with the successful and critically acclaimed Pirates which only sent her further into music super stardom in 1981. Since then, she has recorded twelve more acclaimed albums but it’s those early songs that are most often requested by her fans. For the first time last year, Rickie Lee fully obliged and set out on tour and performed the songs from those two early recordings in full sequence. It’s no easy task to reach back to a self of 30 years ago and stand so firmly center stage, but Ms. Jones nailed it. And the crowd couldn’t be more pleased. We spoke to her near the end of the American leg of the tour where she graciously shared her thoughts on her lasting career, the amazing experience of revisiting her beginnings and the unexpected ghosts she met along the way.
Below watch Rickie Lee perform her 1979 classic track “Weasel and The White Boys Cool” taken from the soon to be released DVD Rickie Lee Jones Live in Stockholm.
Links:
Rickie Lee Jones
Photos credits: Rickie Lee Jones, Gina Vodegel, Dave Barnum, Greg Allen, Scott Cordaro, Albert Vicente, Pierre Wachholder, Geffen Records and Warner Bros. Records.
Great interview, though she sounds even more nasal with each passing year. I worked in a record store in 1978 and the Warner rep called me as soon as my weekly package of demos arrived. He asked me to pull out the Rickie Lee Jones album and drop the needle around it, as he knew our store could bring in a case of albums and sell strong music off the turntable alone – so I sampled the sample and told him to ship me a case and we never let the stock get too low from that moment on. Her live shows there in Cleveland were incredible. The debut show featured a Jackson Five number that brought the house down. She always struck me as a classic starlet of a bygone era, playing in an 80’s rock and roll world and an artist trying to maintain some integrity in the face of an exploding media image. She weathered all of the conflicts nicely, as far as an artist’s career integrity is concerned. She never produced poorly thought out work. Love this site!!!