By Eleni P. Austin
Jonatha Brooke has been making music for more than 30 years. First, with Jennifer Kimbell as The Story, they released two well-received albums in the early ‘90s. Halfway through that decade, she went solo and never looked back. All told, she has released eight studio albums and three live efforts. When her mom passed away in 2012, Jonatha channeled her grief by creating the theatrical production My Mother Has 4 Noses.” An impressionistic, one-woman musical memoir, it focused on the tough, but tender final years they shared together.
The Massachusetts native picked up the guitar at age 12. She has lived in Los Angeles and New York, but currently calls Minneapolis home. She recently embarked on a tour that takes her to McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica for two nights, Saturday, November 23 and Sunday, November 24th. She graciously agreed to answer a few burning questions.
ELENI: It’s been at least six years since your last studio album, Midnight Hallelujah was released. I know you released an EP and the live Sweetwater Sessions, but do you have any new music in the pipeline?
JONATHA: YES! I’ve got a few new songs I’ve been playing live with Sean Driscoll lately. Also, a couple others in the works. It’s become the pressing question now: How best to release new music? A song at a time? Five at a time? All the models seem fluid. So, I am looking for spaces and saving pennies in order to be ABLE to record. And then, the timelines and avenues to release my new ideas.
ELENI: The last time we spoke during the pandemic, you were working on another musical theater project. Is that still happening?
JONATHA: YES! In fact, I’ve added (argggg, not enough hours in the day), ANOTHER musical to my plate. It’s an incredible story about a 15-year-old Minnesotan girl, based on a novel/memoir called Evidence Of V. I’m also still working on Switched. (That’s in high gear), about two women who were switched at birth. TEMPUS is slowly inching forward. Also, I’m working on a more streamlined, travel-able version of My Mother Has 4 Noses, for a One Woman Show festival in February, here in Minneapolis.
ELENI: Your Mother Has 4 Noses was such a deeply personal subject. Is that true of the new ones as well?
JONATHA: They all feel personal, as I’m such an emotional, instinctive writer. I feel like I find myself in each word and every voice I’m bringing to life. So, for better or worse, there’s a lot of Jonatha in every song I write. Even though these characters are having very different experiences than my own, I am walking in their shoes!
ELENI: You experienced your share of record label woes in the ‘90s. That motivated you to start your own imprint, Bad Dog Records. Giving you much more autonomy. Have you ever considered putting some older albums, say, 1999’s Live, or 2001’s Steady Pull out on vinyl?
JONATHA: Vinyl has been very prohibitive, cost-wise, and I just don’t think enough of my fans would ante up to make it worth the cost of production. It’s also super HEAVY, and so impossible to travel with for these smaller club/theater dates on my tour schedule. I sure dream of The Works or ten cent wings on vinyl. We’ll see. Also, I hear the CD is making a comeback!
ELENI: As someone who has spent over 40 years in music retail, and has around 4,000 CDs (downsized from 5,000), and roughly 3,000 LPs, I can confirm that neither format has ever really gone away. However, I was at a show recently to see my friend Jasmine Rodgers’ band, boa, and the opening, Gen Z band, Rocket, only had cassette tapes for sale!
JONATHA: Haha!! I still have a couple of cassettes from my very first outings following college. But I don’t have a way to PLAY them anymore, even if they are intact. Sigh. Maybe someday they’ll be collector’s items?
ELENI: Will the two show at McCabe’s be solo, or in a band setting, or maybe just accompanied by one other musician?
JONATHA: I’m touring with my beloved, longtime guitar player, Sean Driscoll. He joined the team during the My Mother Has 4 Noses days. So, we are a duo, but we make a LOT of sound. Sean is a really good singer as well, so I get that lucky extra of background vocals and tasty electric guitar!
ELENI: How long have you been playing at McCabe’s? How did you settle on that venue the last few times you have come through L.A.? (Full disclosure, it’s my favorite L.A. venue, as the intimacy offers a true “listening room”).
JONATHA: McCabe’s is a hallowed HAUNT. It’s just a great vibe. And I haven’t found a more fun hang in L.A., so I just keep coming back. Last time felt like a wicked fun party!! I’ve played there a bunch of times over the years…. then I wasn’t touring as much for a few. Post-COVID I decided to come back, and it’s been a love affair ever since! We can’t wait for those dates!
ELENI: Finally, where do you find inspiration these days? Are there any books, movies, music or television series that you’re passionate about?
JONATHA: I am currently obsessed with Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. I am a goober fan of her work. But I am absolutely smitten with this one. Her attention to the universal in the tiniest details. Conversations, love, loss, it’s effortless and enormous all at once. She knocks me sideways, so, I know, there will be tidbits of her influence in whatever I’m writing next. I’m also reading The Girls That Went Away and The Fall Of Roe- they are definitely research for the pieces I’m writing. But also stunning explorations of women’s history in this woebegone country. I find when I finally get back to books (my one true love), and find the time to read, my heart opens, my attention span returns, brain calms and the ideas begin to flow.
ELENI: Wow, well-said! Thanks.
JONATHA: Thanks so much Eleni, it’s great to be in touch again!! Cheers and all good things.
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Jonatha Brooke Plays McCabe’s Guitar Shop Saturday November 23rd and Sunday November 24th. SATURDAY SHOW SOLD OUT. Sunday tickets available at www.mccabes.com.
