Underdog Glorious: A personal remembrance of Jill Sobule

Gregg Shapiro and Jill Sobule in after a concert in Chicago Provided I ve consistently prided myself on being the kind of music consumer who purchased music on impulse When I stumbled across Things Here Are Different Jill Sobule s MCA Records debut album at a favorite Chicago record store I bought it without knowing anything about her This was at a time when we didn t have our phones in our pockets to search for information about the artist on the internet The LP stayed in my collection until as vinyl was falling out of fashion I replaced it with a CD a limited years later Early in my career as an entertainment journalist I received a promo copy of Jill s eponymous Atlantic Records album That year Atlantic Records was one of the labels at the forefront of signing and heavily promoting queer artists including Melissa Ferrick and Extra Fancy and its roster included the self-titled album by Jill It was a smart move as the single I Kissed A Girl became a hit on radio and its accompanying video featuring Fabio was in heavy rotation on MTV when they still played videos Unfortunately for Jill she was a victim of record label missteps When s wonderful Happy Town failed to repeat the success Atlantic dumped her That was Atlantic s loss because her next album the superb Pink Pearl contained Heroes and Mexican Wrestler two of her preponderance beloved songs Sadly Beyond Music the label that published that album ceased to exist after just a scarce years To her credit the savvy Jill had also started independently releasing music s The Folk Years This was a smart move because her next major-label release the brilliant Underdog Victorious on Artemis Records met a similar fate when that label folded With her album California Years Jill launched her own indie label Pinko Records on which she would release two more outstanding full-length discs Dottie s Charms on which she collaborated with particular of her favorite writers including David Hadju Rick Moody Mary Jo Salter and Jonathan Lethem and s stunning Nostalgia Kills Jill s cover of the late Warren Zevon s Don t Let Us Get Sick on Nostalgia Kills was particularly poignant as she had toured with him as an opening act Jill was a road warrior constantly on tour and her live shows were something to behold My first interview with Jill took place at the Double Door in Chicago in early August of when she was the opening act for legendary punk band X She had thrown her back out the previous day and was diagnosed with a herniated disc To be content she was lying down on a fabulous-fifties sofa I feel like I m at my shrink s she disclosed to me Do you want me to talk about my mother That sense of humor which permeated and enriched her music was one of multiple reasons to love Jill I was privileged to interview her for seven of her albums Everything you would want to know about her was right there in her honest lyrics in which she balanced her distinctive brand of humor with serious subject matter Drawing on her life experiences in songs such as Bitter Underachiever One of These Days Freshman Jetpack Nothing To Prove Forbidden Thoughts of Youth Island of Lost Things Where Do I Begin Almost Great and Big Shoes made her songs as personal as they were universal elicited genuine affection and concern from her devoted fans While she was a consummate songwriter Jill also felt equally peaceful covering songs made famous by others including Just A Little Lovin on the Dusty Springfield tribute album Forever Dusty and Stoned Soul Picnic from the Laura Nyro tribute album Time and Love Jill also didn t shy away from political subject matter in her music with Resistance Song Soldiers of Christ Attic Heroes Under the Disco Ball and the incredible America Back as prime examples Here s something else worth mentioning about Jill She was known for collaboration skills As a songwriter she maintained a multi-year creative partnership with Robin Eaton I Kissed A Girl and numerous others as well as Richard Barone the gay frontman of the renowned band The Bongos Jill s history with Barone includes a performing together at a queer Octoberfest event in Chicago in Writer and comedian Julie Sweeney of SNL and Work in Progress fame was another Chicago collaborator with Sobule Sweeney lives in a Chicago suburb where they frequently performed their delightful The Jill and Julia Show John Doe of the aforementioned band X also collaborated with Jill in the studio The subsequent day Is Current from Nostalgia Kills as well as in live performances On a very personal note in when I was in the process of arranging a reading at the fabulous NYC gay bookstore Bureau of General Services Queer Division I reached out to Jill and sought her if she would like to be on the bill with me We alternated performing I would read a couple of poems and Jill would sing a couple of songs She even set one of my poems to music on the spot Jill had an abundance of talent and when she turned her attention to musical theater it paid off in a big way Her stage musical F ck th Grade a theatrical piece that seemed like the next logical step in her career had its premiere at Pittsburgh s City Theatre in the fall of during the height of the pandemic The unique staging an outdoor drive-in stage at which audience members watched from their cars was truly inspired F ck th Grade went on to become a New York Times Critic s pick as well as earning a Drama Desk nomination In honor of the th anniversary of Jill s eponymous album reissue label Rhino Records is rereleasing it on red vinyl Jill and I had been emailing each other to arrange a time for an interview We even had a date on the books for the third week of May When she passed suddenly on May Jill received mentions on organization and cable news shows She was showered with attention from major news outlets including obits in the New York Times and Rolling Stone Is it wrong to think that if she d gotten this much attention when she was alive she could have been as big as Taylor Swift I don t think so The post Underdog Glorious A personal remembrance of Jill Sobule appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta