Calling her own tune

Credibility's hard to come by when your parents are rich, famous

Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 5, 2006 at midnight

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One could argue that Jakob Dylan did it the wrong way. As the son of the greatest songwriter of modern times, he didn't want to talk about Bob when his band The Wallflowers got big. Perhaps he should have addressed the questions about his lineage early on (he did so later) and just be done with it.

Alexa Ray Joel, the daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, has no intention of downplaying her roots. But she's not going to abuse them either.

"I really don't use any of his connections," Joel says of her famous father. "Honestly, it would take me about two seconds to be on TRL or have a record out. I could have just signed with Columbia."

But she knows that that route is a credibility-killing dead end, so instead she's doing it herself. Her EP, Sketches, is out, she's doing a short under-the-radar promo tour, and she hopes to play live and grow a career in an organic way.

And what she's hearing the most these days is surprised fans and music critics going "Wow, this is actually pretty good."

How often does she hear that?

"Oh, all the time," she says with a laugh. "Especially on MySpace. So many people say 'Honestly I just kinda looked you up because I had preconceived notions that it would be a fluff thing'... People come up to me and say 'Wow! I didn't expect you to be good.' I've heard that."

One could argue that starting a music career under the shadow of such a famous father could be a liability, but Joel disagrees.

"It has its perks in a sense. I'm lucky enough to have my dad helping me out financially a little bit right now. Touring and everything is a bit costly. But I'm doing this very slowly and making all my own decisions," she says. "It's a double-edged sword. There are so many awkward moments where they go 'Oh! You're Billy Joel's daughter!' Yeah, I know, I've known for 20 years, thank you."

Many don't know her name or face and that's no accident. Unlike some other daughters of privilege, Joel decided to work and learn rather than join the New York party circuit.

"I've heard stories of these actresses whose parents let them go to bars when they were 12, really ridiculous stuff," she says. Age 20 now, "I was a late bloomer. I didn't go to a bar till two years ago."

What kept her on the straight and narrow?

"I find it really exhausting, going out clubbing and getting drunk. I just don't like it. Right now I don't even have time. I don't drink at all because I don't like it and it's really bad for your voice," she says. "I see these girls who go out every night and they're so done-up and I just find it exhausting.

"There's so much focus on image and that lifestyle right now. When I'm not on the road I'm tired. I want to stay home with my boyfriend and watch movies," she says. "It's also how I was raised. (Joel and Brinkley) are both sort of homebodies."

Classically trained on the piano, Joel obviously grew up in a very musical household, sharing her father's love for Ray Charles (which is where she got her middle name).

"Ever since I was young people told me, 'You can really sing' but I was shy when I was younger and didn't take any initiative to sing in public on a regular basis," she says. After recording the EP she began performing in public, "and now I'm comfortable with it."

Sketches is recorded live in the studio with few overdubs.

"I wanted to keep it very organic and very much like a live-sounding record. It's less expensive and I wanted to do this without a record label," she says. "I thought it would be refreshing for people to hear - this is what artists sound like live. This is what I sound like live."

Original songs like Now It's Gone are fueled by real life; that song in particular deals with a duplicitous lover.

"I was very angry at a particular person and it just kinda let it right out. For me it was a real breakthrough lyrically. I think I wrote the song in about two days," she says. "I just love it when it just pours out. It wasn't hard work for me. I hope when people hear that song they can vent any anger they have toward some jerk who they're completely frustrated with."

A cover of Neil Young's Don't Let It Bring You Down is the only non-original on the disc.

"A lot of people, my dad and everyone, said you should really do a cover in there. It would be nice to pay tribute to someone, some musical hero of mine. A lot of people said 'You should do an Aretha Franklin cover.' I just thought that was very obvious. I thought it would be more unexpected for them to cover a song by a male vocalist and a folk song," she says.

Other singer/songwriters influence her as well.

"I love Randy Newman. I think he's a genius as a songwriter. He can just sing something almost in a speaking form. His melodies are so strong. Bob Dylan, obviously, just for his simplicity and his songwriting," she says.

So where does she hope this all goes? A full debut album in 2007 and a career that lasts.

"I am a big believer in building slowly but carefully. That doesn't mean I don't want to make it big," she says. "I'm very much in this for the long haul. The longevity of my career is most important and also credibility. I'm really relieved I'm doing it this way.

"The thing is nobody can say, 'Oh that's just Billy Joel's daughter and she hasn't paid her dues.' Ever since I've started I've just been playing in local bars where I have to sing loud to get people to hear me," she says. "My ultimate goal is to have the kind of credibility and popularity and longevity of my dad. I almost wish I was starting out in the '70s when the art of songwriting was better."

Tuning in

You can hear and order Alexa Ray Joel's music on the Web:

• Sketches, her six-song EP, is available through AlexaRayJoel.com.

• You can hear music from Sketches and some songs that didn't make it to the EP through myspace.com/alexarayjoel.

Mark Brown is the popular music critic. Brownm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2674

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