Rickie Lee Jones, who will be performing at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, makes a political statement with her new video for ‘Nagasaki’, animated by Ben Clarkson.
‘Kicks’ is the follow up to Rickie’s critically acclaimed album ‘The Other Side of Desire’. She will tour the USA for most of June before her Glastonbury appearance on the 30th of June, performing on the Acoustic Stage.
Rickie Lee Jones is that rare musician who has transcended the singer/songwriter mantle by incorporating different radio genres from the get-go and she continues that tradition on the new album.
It is fitting that one of the American treasures of songwriters should be comfortable with this diverse collection of the great songwriters of the 20th century – she is one of them. On ‘Kicks’, she brings emotion to sleeper album tracks like ‘My Fathers Gun’ and her tongue-in-cheek humour to songs like ‘Houston’.
Weaving the connection between 70’s rock and 50’s jazz was no leap for Jones.
“It is all part of what I heard growing up,” says Jones. “The radio played everything! 1960’s AM radio was the primordial zone for our musical life today. As a kid I heard R&B, country, rock, and the most sophisticated singer-songwriters of the day forming their genre. Radio was a college education for a budding musician because these songs are all playing on my internal radio all the time, it’s not a stretch for me to put them together on an LP. Really, I just love to sing.”
‘Kicks’ was created entirely in New Orleans, using local musicians, mixers and studios. Produced by Rickie Lee Jones with her band-mate, vibraphonist Mike Dillion, it features 10 songs of a highly infectious nature. ‘Nagasaki’ is a traditional jazz offering of tight three-part harmonies.
Find out more about Rickie Lee Jones on her official website.
