"Jill Sobule can claim her place among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade.Topical, funny and more than a little poignant ...grown-up music for an adolescent age.” - Jon Pareles, New York Times
“Vocally gifted and lyrically witty ... a peerless satirist.” - People Magazine
“A feisty post-punk feminist whose work brings to mind a cross between Liz Phair and Gertrude Stein.” - The New Yorker
“Where other 'quirky' musicians stagnate or flameout, Sobule only gets stronger... In the gets-better-with-every-album race, she's the rare real deal.” - Amazon.com
“Songwriting skills that transcend her one-novelty-hit wonder status.” - Village Voice
“One of pop's best satirists.” - New York Daily News
“Sobule possesses the uncommon ability to combine lilting, infectious melodies with personal and socially relevant lyrics, and then couch them in artfully crafted arrangements ... A top pop tunesmith.” - CMJ New Music Report
“A deft ironist. She is smart and original, a treasure undervalued by inevitable association with countless lessers who also happen to be singing about going to the laundromat in Brooklyn.” - The New Republic
“On songs that act as many self-contained vignettes, she captures life's little miseries and epiphanies with economy and understated humor.” - Amazon.com
“Sobule shows a great eye for satire... [but she] lends her tales an extra layer of tenderness through her deadpan vocal delivery. Her Bacharach-like lounge-pop tunes also keep things light. But underneath the froth lies Sobule's need to speak honestly about what it's like to live mainly inside your head." (Underdog Victorious listed as one of the "Magnificent 7 ... terrific recent CDs that slipped under the mainstream radar") - Jim Farber, New York Daily News
"Each record [Jill Sobule has] released ... has been better than the last... Her lyrics are always catchy and funny and smart; her hooks and choruses are always fine-tuned and elusive... There's a truth to her stories; it's impossible to avoid. Not that anyone except a total sourpuss would want to." - Will Hermes, All Things Considered, National Public Radio
Jill Sobule belongs to a rare breed of artists. Her work is at once deeply personal and socially conscious, seriously funny and derisively tragic. Over five albums and a decade of recording, the Denver-born songwriter/guitarist/singer has tackled such topics as the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, reproduction, the French resistance movement, adolescence, and the Christian right. Did we mention love? Love found, love lost, love wished for and love taken away.
While her songs cover a huge amount of ground, they all have benefit greatly from Jill’s subtle intelligence and skillful light-handedness. No sloganeering flag-and-fist waving here, but rather story songs about human beings, real and imagined, which allow us to step back from the issue, be it personal or social, and relate to it as we would a close friend.
To see Jill live and in concert is a rare treat. It is on stage that she is most comfortable, most powerful, and where the delicacy and range of her work can be best appreciated. She entertains, amuses, provokes, and more often then not, takes her audiences on an emotional roller coaster, from comedy to pathos in a few bars of music.
Jill began playing guitar when she joined the Junior High School band. She never learned to read music though and faked her way through rehearsals and performances by playing by ear. As she began writing songs, it was very clear to Jill this was becoming more than a teenage hobby. Music was serious stuff. She played in a variety of funk and rock bands in Colorado, and eventually made her first, Todd Rundgren-produced, album for MCA, Things Are Different.
But success did not knock on her door until three years later, when Atlantic Records released her MTV staple and national top 20 hit I Kissed A Girl. “That song was a double-edged sword for me,” Jill Says. “It was perceived as a novelty hit, but on the other hand it was the first song with an overtly gay topic to be aired on Top 40 radio. I am quite proud of that.” The self-titled album also yielded another hit song, Supermodel, included in the Clueless soundtrack.
The song also jumpstarted her live music career in a big way, and since then she’s had the honor to induct Neil Diamond in the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, to share the stage with the likes of Neil Young (at his yearly Bridge School benefit concerts), fellow activists Billy Bragg & Steve Earle, and Waren Zevon. Quite the serious guitar player, she even toured the world as lead guitarist in Lloyd Cole’s band a couple of years back.
Since then, she has made three more critically acclaimed albums, Happy Town, Pink Pearl, and 2004’s Underdog Victorious. She has played the role of political troubadour for NPR stations across the country and for Air America Radio.
A veritable gypsy, Jill divides her time between a her busy touring schedule and, since last year, her responsibilities as songwriter/composer for the Nickelodeon network hit show, Unfabulous. She composed the music for the off-Broadway show Prozak and the Platypus and co-starred in the Eric Schaeffer film Mind the Gap.
In the words of New York Times pop music critic Jon Pareles, “Jill Sobule can claim her place among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade. Topical, funny and more than a little poignant...grown-up music for an adolescent age.”
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BLACKLICK, Ohio -- Mixed feelings. That's the best way to describe how people feel about a controversial church sign that was seen in Blacklick this past week.
For 24 hours, the message board outside Havens Corners Church, 6696 Havens Corner Rd., read, "I kissed a girl and I liked it, then I went to Hell."
The message refers to the chart-topping song by pop artist Katy Perry "I Kissed A Girl."
Pastor David Allison said he didn't put up the sign to draw attention to the church.
"We didn't intend to get into all this, but it's become a bigger thing," Allison said.
He was just very concerned about the implications of the song for teenagers and what he called a music video so suggestive it borders on pornography.
"If anyone's seen the video and understands how lewd and suggestive the video is for this song, that is not something young people should go toward," Allison said.
He thought the message would be a loving way to remind teenagers that the Bible denounces homosexuality, NBC 4's Mikaela Hunt reported.
Taking a look at the other side of this story, some people can't believe the church displayed that message so publically.
A viewer sent us a picture of the sign with the subject title "Worst Church Sign Ever."
The sign was removed Thursday.
Pastor Allison said it was confusing to many people who called in or e-mailed because they didn't know to what he was referring. They were unaware of the song.
HI !! Hey & Hi hermano THANKS TO ADD I LIKE YOUR TRACKS ON YOUR PAGE IT’S A GOOD SOUND
I’m a journalist of “BUSCADERO” the very best italian rock magazine, and other, desultorily I wrote on “FB Folk Bullettin” (folk magazine).
this is list to my last reviews: BUSCADERO July/Ago 2008: Floggin Molly: review live concert at Musicdrome - Milano 20,05.’08 Railroad Earth “Amen Corner” cd Michael Doucet “From You Noe On” cd Tony DeMarco “The Sligo Indians” cd Ned Ludd “Lavoro & Dignità” cd Riccardo Tesi “Presente Remoto” cd BUSCADERO June 2008: Davide Van de-Sfroos: review live concert at DatchForum, Assago-Milano 19,04.’08 Yonder Mountain String Band “Mountain Tracks: vol.5” 2cd Flavio Oreglio & LUF “Giù (non è stato facile cadere così in basso)” cd BUSCADERO May 2008: Waybacks: “Loaded” cd Clarence Gatemouth Brown “Live from Austin-City Limits” dvd Flaco Jimenez: “Ya Volvi De La Guerra” cd BUSCADERO April 2008: Eric Sardinas: “Eric Sardinas & Big Motor” cd Lhi Jarris “Cèrcle Libre” cd BUSCADERO March 2008: Flogging Molly: “Float” cd Savoy Family Band “Turn Loose But Don’t Let Go” cd Punch Brothers [Chris Thile] “Punch” cd BUSCADERO February 2008 Johnny Cash: “Music in Review” dvd Various Artists: “Caliente Y Picante” (with C. Santana, R.Blades, C.Cruz, T. Puente) dvd LUF “So Nahit’n Val Camonega” cd BUSCADERO January 2008 Lost Bayou Ramblers: “Live A La Blue Moon” cd Hot Buttered Rum: “Live in The Northeast” cd MARC FORD - review live concert at Music-Drome, Milano 11,26,2007
hasta bien amigos I whish you my best (sincerely) compliments for your work
I send you my best and brotherly rockin’ roots regards. ROOTS & RESPECT
YEARS ago... I used to take care of an elderly French dame named Claire. She refused to wear comfortable shoes. Heels are the mark of a true lady, you know. *wink*
I tell you... the first time I heard your song "Claire"... I thought you were stalking my life. :) You really have such a talent for expressing reality.
Hey Jill, saludos desde Madrid! Hope you're well, would love to catch up. We'll be in NY in Feb to promote the album, perhaps we can do a repeat performance like last time all those years ago!! Big besos, Obsessively, me ;-)
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