I saw Rickie Lee Jones at Stern Grove yesterday. I never considered myself a huge fan, but her understated laid back girly bluesy voice is certainly unique and she can craft a song very well. She put on a very good show and it was a lot of fun. She played w two other guys, both very young (I saw one dude up close and he looked to be about 22) who played various arrangements of mandolin, keys, guitars, a drumset of sorts, bass, and who could help out nicely w falsetto backing harmonies. Ricki herself strummed an acoustic fed occasionally through some buzzy filter and also got behind a drum kit for a couple songs ("I may not play these well, but I get a lot of joy from it") and an upright piano for a few more. She still sounds just like she did when she made the scene back in the day.
btw, do you know the song
Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb? That's Rickie's voice they sampled:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuSkyOpjoVkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Fluffy_Clouds Interviewer: "What were the skies like when you were young?"
Jones:
"They went on forever – They - When I w- We lived in Arizona, and the skies always had little fluffy clouds in 'em, and, uh... they were long... and clear and... there were lots of stars at night. And, uh, when it would rain, it would all turn - it- They were beautiful, the most beautiful skies as a matter of fact. Um, the sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire, and the clouds would catch the colours everywhere. That's uh, neat 'cause I used to look at them all the time, when I was little. You don't see that. You might still see them in the desert."
