Rickie Lee Jones' musical road movie

It's been years and years since rock music was still important and had great relevance. Artists were not pop bunnies who sang with computer voices, but stars with guitars, poets, explainers of the world.

Today it is time to hear "Traffic from Paradise" by Rickie Lee Jones.

Rickie Lee Jones' first album after a four-year hiatus was unreservedly navel-gazing. "Short stories about my life" is what the artist called her new songs, released in 1994, the year grunge ruled everything - all autobiographical songs without embarrassment.

Spherical neo-folk, which is sometimes reminiscent of Daniel Lanois' musical road movies, takes the place of jazz, soul and blues shenanigans. No wonder. After all, guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke, a folk musician of the finest kind, played a key role in the creation of Rickie Lee's first entirely self-produced album. The expert from Georgia not only contributed his skills as a guitarist, but also acted as co-author of two songs and as a charmingly growling singing partner.

In addition to Kottke, people like Lyle Lovett, David Baerwald and Brian Setzer can also be heard on "Traffic from Paradise". However, the quiet beauty of this record, the subtle arrangements for twelve-string guitar and mandolin, are solely thanks to the brilliant folkie Leo Kottke. An album that you shouldn't listen to casually, but definitely should listen to again.