Rickie Lee Jones will bring her jazzy folk music to Kauai Community College Performing Arts Center on Aug. 3, but she’ll be enchanting her audience with more than just songs. Doug Allsopp of Buffalo Records, who booked Jones for PAC,
Rickie Lee Jones will bring her jazzy folk music to Kauai Community College Performing Arts Center on Aug. 3, but she’ll be enchanting her audience with more than just songs.
Doug Allsopp of Buffalo Records, who booked Jones for PAC, said she’ll be sharing stories from her life as well.
“I’m looking to bring in veteran musicians who are really good storytellers,” Allsopp said. “They’re all in their 60s and 70s and they have tons of stories — people just love to hear the stories.”
He said the series started last year with Roger McGuinn of The Byrds and most recently, John Hammond visited PAC for a concert and to talk story.
“It’s been great, after every show people are coming up to me and saying, ‘I knew the music was going to be great, but I love the stories,’” Allsopp said.
Jones, the Chicago native who broke into the music scene in 1979, is finishing her autobiography in New Orleans, and Allsopp said the storyteller series was a perfect opportunity to bring her to Kauai.
It’s been 12 years since Jones has performed on Kauai and the show sold out, according to Allsopp. He said coming back to Hawaii has “been on her mind lately” and she had an empty spot in her tour schedule.
“She’s been reliving the past anyway and sometimes she talks during shows, and next year she’s planning on doing a storytelling-type tour,” Allsopp said.
Jones is a two-time Grammy Award winner and has recorded music in the genres of rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul and jazz. She released her first self-titled album in 1979 with the hit single “Chuck E’s In Love.” It’s one of 13 studio albums that she’s released during her career, with the latest hitting the music scene in June last year.
She also founded her own label in 2015, and her latest album “The Other Side of Desire,” was the first to be produced by her label.
Allsopp said as PAC gears up for Jones’ show, he’s looking at more options to continue the storytelling theme of his concert series.
“It’s an open-ended thing and the longtime fans really like hearing the backstory about things,” Allsopp said.
