August, 2009
THE ART AND CRAFT OF...
BY EMILE MENASCHÉ
Over the course of her long career, singer and songwriter Jill Sobule has built a reputation for creative independence. Yet despite consistent critical acclaim and an incredibly loyal following, she's never found a permanent home of a record label. So when it came time to record The California Years, Part I, a collection of songs about life in Southern California, the Denver native and former New Yorker decided to bypass the traditional record business and ask her fans fund the album. "The idea of going to another meeting to try to get a record deal seemed horrific and scary and pointless," she says. "As for writing songs for a new A&R guy: I'm not putting that down, but I think I have more trust in the people who've bought my records forever."
What triggered idea of having fans fund The California Years?
I don't have a huge, Madonna-sized following, but I have a small and mighty and growing fan base. And even before social networking [became popular], I was always really vigilant about writing fans back, talking with people, being part of a community and being very accessible.
Even before I put up the website, jillsnextrecord.com, I remember sending out news blast and asking the fans, "What are you guys thinking?" I got really positive responses, so I had [webmaster] Tony Camas put together jillsnextrecord.com. There were different levels of donation for different gifts and services [Ed note: These included a free digital download ($10), an advance CD and a thanks in the liner notes ($50), free admission to Sobule shows for a year ($200), having Sobule perform at the donor's home ($5,000), and getting to sing on the album ($10,000)].
Did the fans influence the final product?
Before I mastered the record, I put a whole bunch of the songs online for all the people who donated: I asked them to pick their six favorite ones and if they had any other thoughts. I didn't want to end the communication just after the donation: I think that was really important.
How do your songs come together?
It's always such a different process forme. I'm always struggling to remember how I wrote a song that I liked. I know there are people who come up with the music first, and then come up with a catchy title. But I always like to come with the story and sometimes it's so much easier to start with the lyric. Rather than coming up with something catchy which sometimes I wish I would it's always like writing a little short story. I start from the very beginning and I don't know where I'm going.
Do you intentionally have the music underscore the story in the lyrics?
Sometimes. Yesterday, I was writing a really goofy little song with a friend. We think it's really funny that the Pat Buchannans and the Karl Roves act like the straight white man is now the one who's oppressed. So we were trying to write a spiritual like "We Shall Overcome," but a joke version, with a video of a bunch of Karl Roves singing about how oppressed they are. That was one where I knew I wanted it to sound like "People Get Ready."
And then there are times when I may do the opposite. If I have a lyric that's really painful or angry, I like to make the music really sweet and happy, and vice versa. I like to play with the music and the lyric that you think might not go together; it can be more powerful.
Do you write every day?
No, I'm not one of those: I go a couple of weeks where I'm really hard about doing it and then I'll be a slacker for a month. But I write in a journal, where I'll get good stuff. And right now, I don't feel like I have that much to write about, so I'd better go live. That's an important thing.
Learn more at jillsnextrecord.com
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
Things Here Are Different (1990)
> Jill Sobule (1995)
> Happy Town (1997)
> Pink Pearl (2000)
> The Folk Years 2003-2003 (2004)
> Underdog Victorious (2004)
> Jill Sobule Sings Prozak and the Platypus (2008)
> California Years (2009)
