"Ms. Sobule has a clear eye, a sense of humor and a minimum of self pity...It's nice to see a woman gaining respect for her craft, and Ms. Sobule's winning wit and melodic ear proves she deserves it."
-- New York Times
Only singer-songwriter Jill Sobule could combine lilting pop melodies with lyrical references to FDR, T.S. Elliott, Tennessee Williams, Billy Ray Cyrus, and the film "Seven Days in Tibet." Sobule, who first gained mainstream recognition with her controversial 1995 single, "I Kissed a Girl," is one of pop music's most insightful commentators. She is known for blending catchy melodies with sardonic lyrics in skillfully crafted arrangements. Sobule is also a remarkably engaging solo performer, with shows at once hilarious, moving and utterly devoid of self-importance. Her new album, Pink Pearl (Beyond Music), co-produced by Jill, Robin Eaton (who also co-wrote some of the songs) and Brad Jones, spotlights her uniquely skewed view of modern culture. Recorded virtually live in a Nashville studio, Pink Pearl features Jill on guitars, keyboards and occasional drums.
Exemplified by "May Kay," a bossa nova tribute to the Washington schoolteacher that Jill wrote when she was a "singing news commentator" on NPR last year, Pink Pearl is a slice-of-life collection that features Sobule's distinctive cast of offbeat characters. "Heroes" is a wry look at such imperfect icons as Elliott, Williams, Pablo Picasso and the entire nation of France, "who joined the resistance after the war." "Rainy Day Parade," which Jill describes as "Petula Clark on medication," includes a classic Sobule lyric: "I used to have stars in my pocket, now I just watch them on TV." "Lucy at the Gym" is a stab at our desperately lonely, weight-obsessed culture. "Guy Who Doesn't Get It" features a Dorothy Parker-style lyric (a woman's figurative suicide attempts in front of her clueless boyfriend) against a traditional country melody. The album's closer "Rock Me to Sleep," is a melancholy waltz of a lullaby, recorded at home on a four-track cassette deck.
Jill's own background includes some fireside stories. Her father spent the end of World War II in Paris, inoculating prostitutes to protect U.S. soldiers overseas. Her great, great grandfather was the Czar's tailor. Her paternal grandfather was a Shriner clown and also part of the Cootie Club, whose members wore hats that had two little balls and an antenna. Nicknamed "Handsome Bill" during WWI, he was boxing legend Jack Dempsey's sparring partner and he knew Legs Diamond. Jill's Uncle Arnold (mother's brother) helped make the Atom bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Born and raised in Denver, Jill first picked up a guitar at age eight and quickly became local school guitar goddess. She first started performing her own material in the streets of Seville, Spain, where she was soon invited to play clubs. Three months later, she dropped out of school and played there full time.
By the late eighties, Jill had moved to New York City. She held several odd jobs, including selling shoes at Barney's, waiting tables at Lox Around the Clock and assisting a wedding photographer. A few years later, a publishing rep brought her to Nashville, where she got signed. Her first album, Things Here are Different (MCA) produced by Todd Rundgren, was released in 1990 and featured the song, "Too Cool To Fall In Love." In 1995, she released Jill Sobule (Atlantic), which featured "I Kissed A Girl." The homoerotic song became a hit and was banned on several Southern radio stations. At the same time, Jill was honored with an Outstanding Song Award at the 1996 Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards.
"I didn't expect all the attention for 'I Kissed a Girl,'" Jill comments. "On the pro side, I think it was a good song. I've had people come up to me and say it really meant something to them. It was one of the first songs to go Top 40 and have that type of content. As a songwriter, I wanted the audience to know me for the full body of work I've written and not just this one song."
Jill's second Atlantic album, Happy Town, was released in 1997. Critics liked it, but the requisite "units" weren't moved and Jill was dropped by Atlantic. "I laid low for about six months, totally disheartened," she recalls. "I realized I didn't have any other marketable skills so I began writing again."
Jill has had several songs featured in films. "Supermodel" from her self-titled album, was in Clueless. "Where Do I Begin?," produced by the late Mark Sandman of Morphine, was in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. She wrote and performed "The Secretive Life," the title song for Harriet the Spy. And Jill appeared in the film, Grace of My Heart, and sang the song, "Truth Is You Lied" on the soundtrack. "Rainy Day Parade," from Pink Pearl, is in the 1999 summer release, Mystery Men.
Prior to cutting the CD, she honed her chops playing lead guitar in Lloyd Cole's band, the Negatives, touring both the U.S. and Europe. Again, Jill spent part of that period as a singing political commentator, penning songs on news stories from the Taliban to Linda Tripp to Gay Ministry. While touring with Lloyd Cole, Jill recorded with Steven Street a new Lloyd Cole album. Jill also is featured on three tribute albums: a Dusty Springfield collection (singing "Just A Little Lovin'"), a Laura Nyro compilation ("Stoned Soul Picnic") and a Knitting Factory collection honoring "Fiddler on the Roof" with the song "Sunrise, Sunset."
Ultimately, Jill always returns to her songwriting.
With her achievements on Pink Pearl, Jill has more than achieved her goal.
