Or at this century’s dawn, when Jones valiantly spoke out against George W. Bush’s desastrous policies at a time when it was quite risky to do so (Ugly Man and Tell Somebody (Repeal the Patriot Act Now) from the 2003 album The Evening Of My Best Day.

Finally opting for discretion in a career becoming more confidential over time, and despising glitter, glamour and glory while reinventing herself musically with each new album.

This especially with the unexpected The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard from 2007, a rough and tough near-Grunge musical exploration with incantatory accents (the density of which sometimes evoked some of Patti Smith's "trance" speeches). A "Sermon" based on the universe developed by Lee Cantelon in his book The Words, inspired by the teachings of Christ.

Then, with the moving and languorous 2009 Balm In Gilead, a voyage in the past with Wild Girl (a reworking of a touching Eighties composition). An album that is a more or less Bluesy Ballads trip, with a hint of BlueGrass, offering even some "New-Orleans Country Music" prototypes at times : Old Enough, a duet with Ben Harper, could easily be fixed as "Cajun Music", as well the titles Remember Me and Bayless Street could. Balm In Gilead's most moving track being obviously The Moon Is Made of Gold, a great and charming song which Jones' father penned in the old days and that his daughter resurrects here with tenderness and felt love.

And, finally the nonchalant and silky The Other Side of Desire released in 2015. With a special attention to Jimmy Choos which opens the disc, but especially to the surprising and superb Infinity, or Blinded by the Hunt, and finally to a lesser extent Haunted and Feet on the Ground. The latter's first chords recalling Skeletons from Pirates, but the song then flies off to other shores -a Rickie Lee Jones' trademark, as in each and every other multidimensional compositions she always affectioned elsewhere before.