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About this concert
Joe’s Pub & The Public Theater present…
Jillith Fair - Loving Jill Sobule
a celebration of Jill's life benefiting the (t)It was a Good Life Foundation
Alex Knowlton & a Village putting together
line up (so far):
Antigone Rising w/very special guest Julie Wolf ("Underdog Victorious")
Richard Barone
Tracy Bonham
Robin Eaton
Julian Hornick ("Jetpack")
Matt Keating
Graham Maby
Marykate O’Neil
Joan Osborne
Kevin Possey
Martha Redbone & Aaron Whitby
Natalia Zuckerman
finale (Antgone Rising & everyone)
"In some ways, among musicians whose catalogs are not chock-full of universally recognizable hits, Jill Sobule‘s catalog is exceptionally well-suited for a tribute show. The late singer-songwriter’s songs are clever, but not clever in the kind of way
you get an hour or a year later; each number is vivid, high-concept, direct, usually (but not always) funny and instantly relatable. It doesn’t matter whether you’re coming to a memorial concert for her as a Jill mega-fan or a plus-one — the songs hit you
equally hard on the first listen or the 50th, she created such compelling scenarios in each three-minute sampling. She provided, to borrow a term, the supermodel of how to hook a listener in the first 30-45 seconds, and to let you feel like you’d had a full melodic and narrative meal by the end.”
There’s so much to her 35-year catalog of recorded shows that any single tribute show is going to feel too short. Fortunately, in the bigger scheme of things, a lot of that material is going to be covered over the coming months in a series of “Jillith Fair” tribute concerts happening nationwide to benefit the It Was A Good Life Foundation, and to bring her communities of fans together regionally. The first three of these took place over the weekend, including an L.A.-area show at McCabe’s that was already in the works when the larger series of celebrations began to take shape. If you loved her, you’ll probably wish you could be a Jill-head and travel to a lot of them, knowing that after this wave passes, the opportunity to hear undersung classics like “Underdog Victorious” performed in concert will be few.
- Chris Willman/Variety - review of Jillith Fair - Loving Jill Sobule Santa Monica
show at McCabe’s Guitar Shop 6.1 (6.2) - https://bit.ly/3Zcn2bA
"Jillith Fair isn’t a reunion tour
It’s a '90s fever dream armed with guitars and attitude
Folk rage, rebel queens, and the soundtrack you forgot raised you.”
- A47 News (5.25)
Jill Sobule’s work was at once deeply personal and socially conscious, seriously funny and derisively tragic. In a dozen albums spanning three decades of recording, the Denver-born songwriter/guitarist/singer has tackled such topics as the death penalty, anorexia nervosa, shoplifting, reproduction, the French Resistance, adolescent malaise, LGBTQ issues, and the Christian Right. Her hits include “I Kissed A Girl”—the first openly gay-themed song ever to crack the Billboard Top 20—and the alt-rock anthem “Supermodel” featured in the film Clueless. Sobule was one half of The Jill & Julia Show, providing music while actor Julia Sweeney contributes storytelling. Jill is considered a pioneer in crowdfunding and is constantly exploring and creating new models for artists in an ever-changing music industry.
Jill’s new record, F*ck 7th Grade - Original Cast Recording and will be released on her own Pinko Records label on June 6th. Her theater credits included a musical adaptation of the Broadway classic Yentl, Prozak and the Platypus, and Times Square. In November of 2019 Jill sang a song as herself on an episode of the Simpsons. F*ck 7th Grade ran off-Broadway for four (4) runs in three (3) years and gained a New York Times Critics Pick. Drama Desk nominated this autobiographical musical, which premiered at the Wild Project in 2022; had a reboot in the Winter of 2023 - and ran again for three weeks in 2024.
Also on June 6th, Rhino Records is releasing her self-titled Atlantic Records album on red vinyl for the first time - to time with Pride Month! This year marks the album’s 30th Anniversary!
Following her untimely demise on May 1st, many of her previously scheduled shows have morphed into Jillith Fair - Loving Jill Sobule shows, benefiting the new It Was A Good Life Foundation. Funds will be distributed by this foundation to the ACLU and other causes Jill cared deeply about. The hope is that these shows will become annual events on her birthday, January 16th & during Pride Month in the future.
Jill left behind two partially completed albums, 50-70+ finished tracks, hundreds of demos, and a few titles that had fallen out of print. Plus, we’re hoping a tribute album will take shape for release to time with a feature length documentary on her that should be completed by years’ end. We hope to help keep her spirit, memory, & music alive.
“Jill Sobule can claim her place among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade. Topical, funny and more than a little poignant …grown-up music for an adolescent age.” - The New York Times
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What fans are saying
Molly
June 2nd 2025
This night was amazing.
It was a good, good night.
Thanks to every single person who made it happen : )
Northampton, MA@The Iron Horse
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Jill Sobule Biography
Jill Sobule belongs to a rare breed of artists. Her work is at once deeply personal and socially conscious, seriously funny and derisively tragic. Over five albums and a decade of recording, the Denver-born songwriter/guitarist/singer has tackled such topics as the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, reproduction, the French resistance movement, adolescence, and the Christian right. Did we mention love? Love found, love lost, love wished for and love taken away.
While her songs cover a huge amount of ground, they all have benefit greatly from Jill's subtle intelligence and skillful light-handedness. No sloganeering flag-and-fist waving here, but rather story songs about human beings, real and imagined, which allow us to step back from the issue, be it personal or social, and relate to it as we would a close friend.
To see Jill live and in concert is a rare treat. It is on stage that she is most comfortable, most powerful, and where the delicacy and range of her work can be best appreciated. She entertains, amuses, provokes, and more often then not, takes her audiences on an emotional roller coaster, from comedy to pathos in a few bars of music.
Jill began playing guitar when she joined the Junior High School band. She never learned to read music, though, and faked her way through rehearsals and performances by playing by ear. As she began writing songs, it was very clear to Jill this was becoming more than a teenage hobby. Music was serious stuff. She played in a variety of funk and rock bands in Colorado, and eventually made her first, Todd Rundgren-produced, album for MCA, Things Here Are Different.
But success did not knock on her door until three years later, when Atlantic Records released her MTV staple and national top 20 hit, I Kissed A Girl. "That song was a double-edged sword for me," Jill Says. "It was perceived as a novelty hit, but on the other hand it was the first song with an overtly gay topic to be aired on Top 40 radio. I am quite proud of that." The self-titled album also yielded another hit song, Supermodel, included in the Clueless soundtrack.
The song also jumpstarted her live music career in a big way, and since then she's had the honor to induct Neil Diamond in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, to share the stage with the likes of Neil Young (at his yearly Bridge School benefit concerts), fellow activists Billy Bragg & Steve Earle, and Waren Zevon. Quite the serious guitar player, she even toured the world as lead guitarist in Lloyd Cole's band a few years back.
Since then, she has made four more critically acclaimed albums, Happy Town, Pink Pearl, Underdog Victorious, and 2009's California Years, which Jill released on her own record label, Pinko Records, after collecting over $85,000 from fans who funded the project.
A veritable gypsy, Jill divides her time between a busy touring schedule and a variety of other projects. She has played the role of political troubadour for NPR stations across the country and for Air America Radio. She also served as songwriter/composer for the hit Nickelodeon network show Unfabulous during that show's three-season run. She composed the music for the off-Broadway show Prozak and the Platypus and co-starred in the Eric Schaeffer film Mind the Gap.
In the words of New York Times pop music critic Jon Pareles, "Jill Sobule can claim her place among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade. Topical, funny and more than a little poignant ... grown-up music for an adolescent age."
Read MoreWhile her songs cover a huge amount of ground, they all have benefit greatly from Jill's subtle intelligence and skillful light-handedness. No sloganeering flag-and-fist waving here, but rather story songs about human beings, real and imagined, which allow us to step back from the issue, be it personal or social, and relate to it as we would a close friend.
To see Jill live and in concert is a rare treat. It is on stage that she is most comfortable, most powerful, and where the delicacy and range of her work can be best appreciated. She entertains, amuses, provokes, and more often then not, takes her audiences on an emotional roller coaster, from comedy to pathos in a few bars of music.
Jill began playing guitar when she joined the Junior High School band. She never learned to read music, though, and faked her way through rehearsals and performances by playing by ear. As she began writing songs, it was very clear to Jill this was becoming more than a teenage hobby. Music was serious stuff. She played in a variety of funk and rock bands in Colorado, and eventually made her first, Todd Rundgren-produced, album for MCA, Things Here Are Different.
But success did not knock on her door until three years later, when Atlantic Records released her MTV staple and national top 20 hit, I Kissed A Girl. "That song was a double-edged sword for me," Jill Says. "It was perceived as a novelty hit, but on the other hand it was the first song with an overtly gay topic to be aired on Top 40 radio. I am quite proud of that." The self-titled album also yielded another hit song, Supermodel, included in the Clueless soundtrack.
The song also jumpstarted her live music career in a big way, and since then she's had the honor to induct Neil Diamond in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, to share the stage with the likes of Neil Young (at his yearly Bridge School benefit concerts), fellow activists Billy Bragg & Steve Earle, and Waren Zevon. Quite the serious guitar player, she even toured the world as lead guitarist in Lloyd Cole's band a few years back.
Since then, she has made four more critically acclaimed albums, Happy Town, Pink Pearl, Underdog Victorious, and 2009's California Years, which Jill released on her own record label, Pinko Records, after collecting over $85,000 from fans who funded the project.
A veritable gypsy, Jill divides her time between a busy touring schedule and a variety of other projects. She has played the role of political troubadour for NPR stations across the country and for Air America Radio. She also served as songwriter/composer for the hit Nickelodeon network show Unfabulous during that show's three-season run. She composed the music for the off-Broadway show Prozak and the Platypus and co-starred in the Eric Schaeffer film Mind the Gap.
In the words of New York Times pop music critic Jon Pareles, "Jill Sobule can claim her place among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade. Topical, funny and more than a little poignant ... grown-up music for an adolescent age."
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