The sure sign of a sidetracked career in pop music nowadays is to be known as a cult figure. Rickie Lee Jones, the pop jazz singer/songwriter is conscious of having chosen a career path that excludes her from what she calls the great galvanizing forces of genres. The only genre she’s interested in is the Rickie Lee Jones genre…that high pitched, breathy voice and an ear tuned as much to Gershwin and Sinatra as to Dylan and Joni Mitchell. She won a Grammy in 1979 for her album that included the hit song “Chuck E’s in Love.” She followed that with another successful album called “Pirates” and then two decades of uneven music, side trips and some bad trips too….
As the years went by Rickie Lee Jones says she realized she was being written out of history. She’s back now touring with a new album on a new label and maybe with a new audience. Rickie Lee Jones is this hour on the Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Singer/Songwriter, musician Rickie Lee Jones