The Lovely, Talented, and Enterprising Jill Sobule

You have also worked with so many amazing musicians including Warren Zevon. What do you learn from collaborating and performing with him?

I'll say especially with Warren, someone who I admired for so long, he was a mentor in a lyrical way. To get to be his peer and his friend we got really close, but you still never get over that admiration. You still feel like a goofy fan. Those were some of the most precious times in my life being on that bus with Warren. We had a big rock bus that was just me, him, the driver, and our road manager. It was fantastic.

How does the collaborating inform your own songwriting?

I don't know it was so funny I was talking to Al Anderson of NRBQ. He was just saying to me that he had no clue where my influences come from. I don't think it is anything consciously, but it probably came from growing up and hearing the kind of storyteller songwriters, the ones who sometimes use a sense of humor. Hearing the Warren Zevon and John Prine and Randy Newman. I think that had an influence on my songwriting.

We saw you play with Syd Straw and John Welsey Harding- besides you own tour, where are you popping up next?

I am playing a bunch of places in NY. Then I will be doing the Largo show on the 20th. In June I am going to be opening up for J. D. Souther at The El Rey.

You were born in Denver and have lived in NY. What brought your to California?

I moved to NY in the mid 80's and was there until a couple years ago when I came to LA. I was scoring a kids show called Unfabulous for Nickelodeon. I thought it would be best for me to be closer and I have stayed ever since.

Your new album is fan financed. How did you come up with that idea and have the chutzpah to pull it off?

I have a really good relationship with a small and mighty fan base, that is growing hopefully. The other thing was that the thought of going to another meeting and trying to pimp my wares to a record company seems antiquated anyway. Now it is the wild frontier. People are trying to figure out what to do, how to monetize anything. The third thing was I just had absolutely no money to do it on my own. I didn't want people just to give me money. I came up with different levels of donation in return for certain gift and services. I liked writing themes songs for people. I didn't think I would get the $10,000 one, which was where someone sings on my record. And the surprise of it is I met this woman from the UK who came over and she's now a friend. She's fantastic.

Was "The Donor Song" on California Years easy or challenging to write?

All I had was a list and I made it up on the spot and recorded it. I just made it up as I was singing.

Your new album is called California Years. Songs include "Palm Springs", "San Francisco", and "Nothing to Prove" and 'the industry' in LA. What makes your time in California so ripe for songwriting?

I am affected by the setting of where I am. The last two records were very New York, in the feel and the lyric and maybe more in the music.

Did the scene in "Nothing to Prove" about the woman in Trader Joe's on La Brea really happen?

Oh yeah. It did. You know how you totally project onto that person then when you meet them, she was really nice.

Your song "Where is Bobbie Gentry?" tells the story of the country artist who was known for producing her own material. How did this song come to you?

I bought a new turntable. I bought a whole bunch of old Bobbie Gentry records. I was thinking about her voice and how great she was. She was a woman who wrote her own stuff back then. Her big hit "The Ode to Billy Joe", it is such an unlikely weird hit. It is such a strange, dark, and odd song. Then I started trying to figure out, what is she doing? Where is she today? It is a big mystery. She dropped out when she still had things going on. We think it is so weird when someone still has fame. Why would they give that up? Which is kind of great in a weird way. It's kind of my stalker song, wanting to find out where she is. It's a complete mystery.

You are playing Largo on May 20. What do you have planned for that show?

It's going to be me with Dave Carpenter on upright bass and Greg Leisz, who plays a lot on the record on pedal steel. I think that should be really beautiful.

With a whole album about California you must have some favorite places here: Do you have a favorite restaurant?

I live near Larchmont Village. I don't like to get in the car. Most days I just walk to the village. I go to the newsstand. I get the paper and the New Yorker or something. Every day I am at one of those restaurants on Larchmont. I like Le Petit Greek a lot. There are great restaurants on Larchmont and I need to learn about more places in LA too.

Favorite music venue?

I go to Largo a lot. I have been to the Hotel Cafe. I need to start going out in Los Angeles more. I am up for advice.

Any other unique locations you like to go in LA? Do you have somewhere that inspires you?

I like to get away to write. I love going to The Huntington Gardens, just to sit by the Japanese garden. There is something about Pasadena and just getting away. That's a great thing about Los Angeles, go 20 minutes away and you can be somewhere completely different, by the ocean, in the hills. That's a beautiful thing that I love about LA.

What's your next project after the tour?

This is going to be a long range thing, a slow build. I am hopefully going to be working on a musical with some people. And maybe expand what I've done with my record and try to make a platform for other artists to do the same thing. I am kind of overwhelmed because I can't wait to get back to write. I have been sitting by the computer 8 hours a day trying to run my one person record company.

Your new website is super groovy. The main page is a map of Sobulistan. How do we apply for citizenship?

Just click on citizenship, you can be a citizen. Here is the exciting thing if people sign up to be on my street team and you don't really have to do anything, in about a month I am going to make felt badges. Now who doesn't want that?! A friend of mine, KellyAnne Hanrahan, did the design of my new site and she is totally fantastic. She worked with me on the artwork for a musical called Prozac and Platypus that I wrote.

Jill Sobule's will be playing at Largo this Wednesday, May 20 at 8pm.

Photos of Jill Sobule by Kristine Larsen