[Featured on the Audio to the left: A one-hour conversation and performance with and by Sobule in which she sings "Jetpack" and "Heroes" and some rarities.]
Usually I hate pre-thinking my interviews. I do it, but I hate it. Today, writing down questions for Jill Sobule has been fun.
She sort of the consummate alt-pop star for NPR. Her songs are smart, funny, topical, nostalgic and satirical.
There's a lot of stuff I really want to know about, starting with what kind of music was playing in her home when she was a little kid without much say in the matter. It almost has to be the case that she heard Richard Rodgers and Jerome Kern and Gershwin, because her music maintains such a strong connection to classic American Songbook melody.
She's also that rare three-skill performer. She writes addictively tuneful music. She writes wise and funny and literate lyrics. And she's got the voice to sing them with. It was the voice I first heard, singing someone else's song in a way that made we want to know about the musical intelligence behind it.
Meet Jill on today's show.
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