Sat 1/25 @ 8PM
Two of the country’s most talented songwriters and musicians live on the outskirts of northeast Ohio — in the distinctly non-trendy town of Canton.
That’s where singer Marti Jones is from. After fronting the promising but ultimately unsuccessful area band Color Me Gone, she tapped Carolina-based bassist/songwriter/producer Don Dixon (who had worked with R.E.M. among others) to produce her 1985 solo debut, Unsophisticated Time, for A&M.
The partnership clicked, both musically and in real life. Dixon moved north, and he and Jones, now married for a couple of decades, live in her hometown.
Once considered in the same breath as a group of pop-leaning rock songwriters who emerged in the ’80s that included people like Marshall Crenshaw, Paul Carrick, and John Hiatt, the duo has kept a fairly low profile since the early ’90s. They’ve raised a daughter who is now finishing college, released records from time to time, done occasional performances or short tour, and most recently, dealt with the deaths of both mothers. Jones has focused much of her creative energy on her painting, which she studied at Kent State. (You can check out her work here.) Dixon has continued to produce other artists.
Their pace may be leisurely, but they’ve never abandoned making music.
The two released a duet album, Living Stereo, in 2012. Dixon put out a new solo disc, High&Filthy&Borderline, last year. And they’re gearing up to make a new album with Jones this year, her first since 2001 (Dixon has produced all her albums, including her four major-label releases in the late ’80s and early ’90s.)
Keep an alert eye out and you can catch them making appearances around northeast Ohio from time to time. They will be doing a show this week at the Akron Civic Theatre as part of its intimate cabaret series, with performers and audience on the stage of the theater. Tickets are $20 or two for $35.
When I caught up with Marti to talk about that show, she and Dixon were headed to northern Florida for the 5th Annual 30A Songwriters Festival, in the company of artists like Richard Thompson, Ani DiFranco, newly minted Rock Hall inductee John Oates, Loudon Wainwright III, John Gorka, Allison Moorer, and more than 150 others — the cream of both established and up-and–coming songwriting talent. They were scheduled to play three shows, including one with their long-time friend and colleague Crenshaw.
“It’s like a laidback South by Southwest,” she said, referring to the big annual music showcase conference in Austin, Texas in March. “It’s such a nice break in the middle of January to be on that white sand beach. They do things like put three people together, a lot of in-the-round type stuff. Both times before we’ve had a great time and left feeling inspired and good about music.”
They could use a break and a jolt of inspiration.
“We planned on having [my album] pretty well finished by now,” says Jones. “But both of our mothers died within three weeks of each other. We were busy before that taking care of them. It was a full time for both of us and everything went on back burner. His mom died end of October and mine died end of November. We’re just reeling from it and getting back into the stream of things. We’ve got tracks recorded, and we’ll start doing vocals in the very near future.”
She’s trying on something different for a songwriter and vocalist known for smart pop songs: the new album is going to feature bossa nova tunes. Why?
“Because I like it,” she says simply.
The title is already picked: You’re Not the Boss of Me. Maybe she’s telling anyone who wants to gripe about an Ohio girl with no Brazilian ancestry recording this South American musical genre to buzz off.
So what’s the Akron Civic show going to include?
“We booked it last May, and we had originally planned on doing new songs,” she says. “But it would have been totally centered around my new record. We didn’t know any of this would be happening. I didn’t know my mom had cancer, and Dixon’s mom had been receiving hospice care for two years for congestive heart failure. We knew she would eventually pass away but she was the energizer bunny — she kept living and living and living.”
“We have some new songs from [Dixon’s new record]. We’ll do a couple of bossa nova songs that will be on my record. I don’t even know how many songs we’ve been recorded between the two of us. [Dixon interjects, “268.”] We’ll draw on that vast pool. We have some comedy bits. The idea is to entertain them and send them away feeling good.”
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