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Jill Sobule On Mountain Stage

Jill Sobule makes her 9th return to Mountain Stage to play some of her fan favorites.
Brian Blauser
/
Mountain Stage
Jill Sobule makes her 9th return to Mountain Stage to play some of her fan favorites.

Known as the "'I Kissed a Girl' girl," Denver native Jill Sobule has been on the international radar of songwriting fans since 1995 when she landed "I Kissed a Girl" and "Supermodel," on soundtrack of the hit film, "Clueless."

For good reason, her self-described "small but mighty" fan base has been following and fueling her projects ever since. One of the first artists to crowdfund a recording (2009's "California Years,") Sobule has continued that model for her latest project, Nostalgia Kills, out on her Pinko Records label.

On this episode of Mountain Stage recorded in 2018 at the Peoples Bank Theatre in Marietta, Ohio, Sobule starts her set with "Island of Lost Things." The song, about losing everything from her last love, her car in the parking lot and her phone (which she misses the most), sets the tone of this set by a masterful songwriter, who sees loss through her own fun house mirror while giving the listener hope in picking up their own scattered pieces no matter how real, small or raw.

Still rolling acoustic solo, Sobule shares a second song, "Strawberry Gloss," (a humorous stroll through the misery halls and walls of seventh grade), a tune from one of two plays she is writing, F*&^ Seventh Grade.

Playing Mountain Stage for the ninth time, Sobule shifts gears for the last three songs powering up the Mountain Stage Band (Ron Sowell acoustic guitar, Steve Hill on bass, Michael Lipton and Ryan Kennedy on electric guitar, Bob Thompson on piano and Julie Adams) for a playful romp.

Shrouded in a psychedelic fog of rock, Sobule drops into the rabbit hole for a couple tunes: "I Don't Want to Wake Up," (a song she says "may or may not have been written on mushrooms"), and "Where Do I Begin?" (about the fact that to clean up the rooms of your life, there may be some reassembly required from the ashes of burned bridges to stacks of the same lesson learned).

To close out the set, the band helps their long-time musical friend bring it all back home and full circle with a spirited rendition of "I Kissed A Girl."

Set List:

  • "Island of Lost Things"
  • "Strawberry Gloss"
  • "I Don't Want to Wake Up"
  • "Where Do I Begin"
  • "I Kissed a Girl"
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    Dave Lavender