Marti Jones


Marti Jones is an American singer and visual artist known for her albums and her paintings. She exhibits visual art as "Marti Jones Dixon."

Early life

Marti Jones grew up in Uniontown, Ohio, United States near Akron, Ohio. She performed with her sisters in a folk music group and graduated from Kent State University in 1979 with a degree in studio art. While in school, she performed in solo, duo, and trio contexts.

Career

Color Me Gone

Producer and songwriter Liam Sternberg gave Jones her first studio experience singing demos, and suggested she join Akron band Color Me Gone who needed a lead singer. The band recorded one EP for A&M Records in 1983. Jones also recorded a demo of the Sternberg-composed "Walk Like an Egyptian." After hearing Jones' rendition, the Bangles recorded the song and it became a worldwide number one hit.

A&M Recordings

Her first solo album, 1985's Unsophisticated Time, was produced by Don Dixon. Jones covered songs by The dB's, The Bongos, Elvis Costello, and Dixon. The album featured Anne Richmond Boston and Mitch Easter.
Jones and Dixon married in 1988, and Dixon produced and wrote songs for all of her subsequent albums.
She recorded two more albums for A&M Records – Match Game and Used Guitars – featuring a wide range of supporting musicians. These albums featured original material, and covers of songs by Janis Ian, Elvis Costello, John Hiatt, Jackie DeShannon, Richard Barone, and Graham Parker. Jones' sound encompassed jangle pop, ballads, and southern-style soul. Her voice and singing style reminded some observers of Dusty Springfield, who mined a similarly eclectic field of pop music; others compared her voice to that of Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, or Annie Lennox.

Any Kind of Lie

In 1990, Jones moved to RCA Records to record Any Kind Of Lie. She relied more on original material and adapted an adult-contemporary sound. She was dropped by RCA after one album.

Sugar Hill Recordings

After losing her label, Jones, 35, decided to settle down and have a child. In 1996, Sugar Hill Records released a pair of Jones albums only a few months apart. Live at Spirit Square was an August 29, 1990, live recording at the Spirit Square Center for the Arts, documenting the Any Kind of Lie tour.
My Long-Haired Life was a return to her previous method of blending original songs and covers. Having cut her characteristically long hair when she became a mother, the album title alludes to her life of singing back when her hair was long. The album's cover shows a self-painted portrait of Jones sitting in a barber's chair, her golden locks strewn on the floor.

Dixon Archival Remnants Recordings

2002's My Tidy Doily Dream was a slower tempo album, featuring songwriting collaborations with Richard Barone and Kelley Ryan of astroPuppees.
After that, Jones curtailed her singing career for a time, and focused on painting.
In 2003, Jones recorded the song "Room With a View" for a tribute to Let's Active's Every Word.
In 2006, she toured with singer-songwriter Amy Rigby as The Cynical Girls.
In 2008, Jones and Dixon released the download-only album Lucky Stars: New Lullabies for Old Souls A departure from Jones' and Dixon's previous sound, this recording began as a request from a friend who was putting together an album of lullabies to sell in hospitals to new parents. The album featured six vocal songs and five instrumentals.
In fall of 2009, Jones and Dixon toured, performing a series of live acoustic performances.
In 2010, Jones and Dixon recorded Living Stereo, a proper duet album.
In 2014, Jones released You're Not the Bossa Me, which incorporates bossa nova rhythms and sensibilities into her own musical themes.

Discography

Marti Jones

  • 1985: Unsophisticated Time
  • 1986: Match Game
  • 1988: Used Guitars
  • 1990: Any Kind Of Lie
  • 1996: My Long-Haired Life
  • 1996: Live From Spirit Square
  • 2002: My Tidy Doily Dream
  • 2014: ''You're Not The Bossa Me''

    Marti Jones and Don Dixon

  • 2008: Lucky Stars: New Lullabies for Old Souls
  • 2011: ''Living Stereo''

    Appears on

  • 1984: Color Me Gone – Color Me Gone
  • 1987: Don Dixon – Romeo at Juilliard
  • 1987: Marshall Crenshaw – Mary Jean & 9 Others
  • 1988: Various Artists – Back to the Beach
  • 1989: Andrew Cash – Boomtown
  • 1989: Don Dixon – EEE
  • 1989: Don Dixon – Chi-Town Budget Show
  • 1990: Mary Chapin Carpenter – Shooting Straight in the Dark
  • 1991: Various Artists – Yuletide
  • 1992: Don Dixon – If I'm A Ham, Well You're A Sausage
  • 1992: Joe Cocker – Night Calls
  • 1992: Various Artists – Back to the Garden: A Tribute to Joni Mitchell
  • 1994: The Moody Brothers – Guitar Boogie
  • 1995: The Smithereens – Attack of the Smithereens
  • 1997: Robert Shafer – Hillbilly Fever
  • 1999: Julie Adams – I Don't Mind Walking
  • 1999: The Smithereens – God Save the Smithereens
  • 1999: Treva – Better Late Than Never
  • 2000: Don Dixon – The Invisible Man
  • 2000: Robert Crenshaw – Victory Songs
  • 2000: Various Artists – Forever Dusty: A Tribute To Dusty Springfield
  • 2001: Various Artists – Shoe Fetish: A Tribute To Shoes
  • 2003: Robert Crenshaw – Dog Dreams
  • 2003: Various Artists – Every Word: A Tribute to Let's Active
  • 2005: astroPuppees – Sugar Beat
  • 2005: Jeffrey Dean Foster – Million Star Hotel
  • 2006: Don Dixon – The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room
  • 2007: Bell & Cooper – Postcards out of the Blue
  • 2007: Michael Stanley – The Soft Addictions
  • 2009: Don Dixon – The Nu-Look
  • 2010: Kelley Ryan – Twist
  • 2012: Kelley Ryan – Cocktails
  • 2013: Various Artists – ''The Del Shannon Tribute: Songwriter, Vol. 1''