I don't know if any of you have ever heard of the band Lone Justice; I never had until this popped up on the Top 2000 A GOGO website. I found it an interesting story. A young band in the '80's that had all kinds of industry buzz that they were going to be the next big thing. Before they signed a record deal Dolly Parton was coming to their shows and Bob Dylan was writing a song for them (Go Away Little Boy).
But it never happened. It was a case of over involvement, where everybody was telling them to "be like this, dress like this, look like this, sing like this, write songs like this" instead of just letting them be their own band.
Maria McKee, the lead singer, talks about all of this in these videos (skip the part where she pulls out the guitar and sings...don't do that in interviews, please).
A song she wrote did become a hit for Feargal Sharkey, who previously lead the Irish punk band The Undertones. The song is called "A Good Heart" Maria McKee wrote it when she was 18 and admits is a cutesy naive song about love. You know what, I like it. It's a fun little poppy song.
A few other interesting tidbits taken from WIki:
In 1995,
Bette Midler recorded two of McKee's songs—"To Deserve You" and "The Last Time"—for her platinum album,
Bette of Roses.
She sang back up on the
Counting Crows' 1993 debut
August and Everything After on "Sullivan Street" and "Mr. Jones"
Her song "If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags)" was personally selected by
Quentin Tarantino for his feature film
Pulp Fiction. It is the only original song on the soundtrack.
Pretty interesting career arc for Maria McKee. I love finding out about stories like this.