Thurs. July 26

One of the (potentially) fun things to do: Hear a well-respected artist play a lot as yet-unreleased songs at a small club. It doesn't always work, and I'm not sure Rickie Lee Jones is going to play all of "The Devil You Know" (out Sept. 18) at the Bull Run in Shirley Thursday July 26, but she's sure as heck likely to try a lot of them out. One of th

e downsides of this can be that you, not knowing the material, don't have those songs in your head yet. First listens sometimes don't work in a live setting. (I remember a gig Cyndi Lauper did at the Paradise where she played the entirety of an unrelesed album, the songs played sequentially. They she did radically re-worked versions of a couple of hits and goodbye. Not a good night.) But here's the upside to Ricki Lee's album: It's all covers, so you're going to know a lot of these songs by Neil Young, Robbie Robertson, Van Morrison, Donovan and others. I'm looking forward to hearing Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe," an early '70s hit for Rod Stewart. She does Ben Harper's ballad "Masterpiece," which makes sense as he both produced the album (he also did 2009's "Balm in Gilead." and plays on it, and the two are simpatico spirits.  Check out her stripped-down, spare and bluesey version of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" here: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/song-premiere-rickie-lee-jones-sympathy-for-the-devil-20120719. She also does the Stones' "Play With Fire."
      "It's a simple, surprising record,” says Jones, who sings, plays guitar and piano, of the new disc. “This record takes me to a new place in my work, my art. I’ve found another voice; it’s a quieter one, older, perhaps, but more likely younger than I’ve ever been.  These songs were recorded with care and impulse. They deserve that. The songs on this album are the picture, the voice is the story. For those who will be marked by their lives, they are the ones music is for.”” (She's done this interpretive singer/covers thing before; "Girl at Her Volcano." "It's Like This" and "Pop Pop" with producer David Was. And she's admitted to writer's block.)
    Jones, 57, has made a career of experimenting with her sound and persona. She's a jazz singer, a pop singer. She has recorded with everyone from Mike Watt to Lyle Lovett. One of her early champions was the great Lowell George of Little Feat (Side note: Dean Johnson and I did one of the last-ever George interviews at the Paradise, when he went solo, for a magazine called Sweet Potato.) Jones struck big out of the box in 1979, with "Chuck E.'s in Love" and landed on the cover of the Rolling Stone. She won a Grammy for both her sly duet with Dr. John on the naughty-but-nice standard “Makin’ Whoopee” and was nominated for her version of “Autumn Leaves” with Rob Wasserman. There were down years, non-commercial years and with so much youth orientation in the market, it's not easy for a veteran artist to stay in the public's eye. Jones' gig at the Bull Run is part of her 21st century re-launch. So, if you've gotta think young, think of her as an older version of Tuneyards.
 

Tix: $55 and $60. Show is early, 7:30. 

215 Great Road, Shirley, 978-425-4311 , 877-536--7190 http://www.bullrunrestaurant.com