a personal remembrance of Jill Sobule

I have always been proud to be a music consumer who bought music on impulse. When I came across “Vinyl’s Debut Album” at my favourite Chicago Record Store on Jill Sobule’s 1990 MCA Records debut album, I bought it without knowing anything about her. This was when I didn’t have a mobile phone in my pocket to search for information about artists on the internet. The LP stayed in my collection and stayed in my collection until vinyl replaced it with a CD a few years later.

Early in my career as an entertainment journalist, I received a promotional copy of Jill’s 1995 Atlantic Records Album of the same name. That year, Atlantic Records was one of the labels at the forefront of signatures and promotions of queer artists such as Melissa Feric and Extra Fancy, with its roster containing a self-titled album by Jill. It was a wise move as the single “I Kissed a Girl” was a hit on the radio and the accompanying video (featuring Fabio!) was a fierce rotation on MTV.

Unfortunately for Jill, she was a victim of record label Misstep. When the stunning “Happy Town” of 1997 failed to repeat success, the Atlantic abandoned her. It was an Atlantic defeat, as her next album, the amazing “Pink Pearl,” included two of “Heroes” and “The Mexican Wrestler,” two of her most beloved songs. Sadly, the label that released the album disappeared after a few years. To her credit, The Savvy Jill was beginning to release music independently (2004’s “The Folk Years”). It was a wise move as the fantastic “underdog” of her next major label release, Artemis Records, encountered a similar fate when the label folded.

With her 2009 album California Years, Jill launched her own indie label, Pinko Records. Pinko Records worked with favourite writers such as 2014’s “Dottie’s Charms” (David Hadju, Rick Moody, Mary Jolter, Jonathan Lethem) to collaborate with favorite writers, including 2018’s Rethem. Jill’s cover of “We Shouldn’t Get Ill” in the late Warren Zebon’s “Nostalgia Kills” was particularly heart-warming as she toured with him as the opening act.

Jill has always been a road warrior on tour, and her live shows have been eye-opening. My first interview with Jill took place in early August 1995 at Double Door in Chicago. She was the opening act for the legendary punk band X. To be comfortable, she lay on a wonderful 50s sofa. “I feel like I’m on my shrink,” she told me, “Do you want me to tell you about my mother?”

Her sense of humor, which has become so pervasive and enriched in her music, was one of many reasons why she loves Jill. I was able to interview her for her seven albums. Everything you want to know about her was right there in her honest lyrics. Depicting her life experiences with songs such as “Bitter,” “Under Attiver,” “One of the Recent,” “Freshman,” “Jetpack,” “Nothing to Prove,” “Youth Island,” “Lost,” “Where It Starts,” “Nearly Great,” and “Big Shoes,” her songs have been universal and have come to area her songs with universal affection and interest.

Although she was the perfect songwriter, Jill also felt that he had the same comfort covering songs that others have made famous, such as “Just Ally Lovin” (on the 2000 Dusty Springfield tribute album “Forever Dusty”) and “Stoned Soul Picnic” (from the 1997 Laura Nyro Tribute album “Time and Love”). Jill also did not eschew political subjects in “Resistance Songs”, “Attic”, “Hero”, “American Back” as “Resistance Songs”, “Soldiers of Christ”, “Attic”, “Hero”, “Under the Disco Ball”, and the surprising “American Back”.

This is something that is worth mentioning about Jill. She was known for her collaborative skills. As a songwriter, she maintained a multi-year creative partnership with Robin Eaton (such as “I Kiss a Girl”) and Richard Barone, the gay frontman of the famous band Bongos. Jill’s history with Barone includes performing together at the 1996 Queer Octafest event in Chicago. Author and comedian Julie Sweeney, fame of “SNL” and “Work in Progress” was another Chicago collaborator with Sobre (living outside Chicago) and frequently performed “Jill and Julia Shaw.” The aforementioned band X’s John Doe worked with Jill in the studio (from “Nostalgia Kills” to “Tomorrow is Broken”), and a live performance.

In a very personal note, in 2019, when I was in the process of arranging a reading at the General Services Bureau of the Great NYC Gay Bookstores Bureau, I contacted Jill and asked if she wanted to be with me. Performances were performed alternately. I read some poems and Jill sang some songs. She set one of my poems on the spot to music.

Jill has a wealth of talent and it paid off in a great way when she turned her attention to musical theatre. Her stage musical, “F*CK 7 Years,” was a theatrical production that seemed like the next logical step in her career, premiering at the City Theater in Pittsburgh in the fall of 2020 at the height of the pandemic. The unique staging (the outdoor drive-in stage that the audience sees from their car) was truly inspired. “F*CK 7th Grade” became a critical pick for the New York Times and won a drama desk nomination.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Jill’s 1995 album of the same name, Reissue Label Rhino Records is re-released on Red Vinyl. Jill and I had emailed each other to arrange interview time. There was also a date for the book for the third week of May.

When she died in a home fire in Minnesota on May 1st at age 66, Jill was mentioned on the Network and Cable news show. She was showering with caution from major news outlets such as the New York Times’ Obitz and Rolling Stone (but not the pitchfork who could not review her music when she was alive). If she had attracted so much attention when she was alive, is it wrong to think that she was as big as Taylor Swift? i don’t think so.