Singer Jill Sobule says the Twain House is the ‘best house concert on Earth’

Jill Sobule has maintained a singular pop music career for three decades. She graced the charts with her second album, 1995′s “Jill Sobule,” while keeping her indie cred and creative mojo with a series of style experiments and affable solo concerts. One of her regular stops when she plays Connecticut is the historic Mark Twain House on Farmington Avenue, where she performs again Sept. 16. It’s her first live concert at the Twain House in years, though she took part in the institution’s 2021 virtual fundraising gala.

Sobule may still be best known for her mid-’90s singles “I Kissed a Girl” (not the later Katy Perry song of the same name) and “Supermodel” (found on the “Clueless” movie soundtrack), but has made more than a dozen albums and is about her to premiere her own off Broadway musical. She’s collaborated with such sterling fellow singer-songwriters as John Doe (X), Richard Barone (The Bongos), Lloyd Cole (The Commotions) and “Saturday Night Live” alum Julia Sweeney.

The Courant talked to Sobule about her love for both Mark Twain and his house, some of the impressive acts she’s opened for, and her impending New York musical “F*ck 7th Grade.”

You’ve played the Mark Twain House many times, but not in a while.

I haven’t been since COVID but I’ve done it half a dozen times. They keep inviting me back, and it’s the best house concert on planet Earth. I’m singing in front of Mark Twain’s fireplace in the living room or whatever they call it, the salon. It’s where he would tell stories to his kids before bedtime. I wonder if there’s a way they could let me spend the night there. They’re pretty great.

Have you been playing out a lot?

I just got off tour. Of all things, I was opening up for The Fixx. I got on so well with the band. They were so sweet, so unpretentious. They’ve been together since the early ‘80s. On the last night, they invited me onstage to sing the last song with them, and they gave me a gift, and I almost cried.

Now I’m coming to New York to do a couple of these shows and then, in October, I’m doing my musical “F*ck 7th Grade” in the East Village. Everyone in Connecticut’s gotta come to New York to see my play.

Have you done theater before?

I had a show called “Prozak and the Platypus” that I did a bunch of places and did in Connecticut once. The weird thing is I’ve been writing for theater for the last few years, and over the summer the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles asked me to be in a musical, not my own, and I hadn’t done that since 5th grade. [”The Wicked Soul of Cherry Hill” by Matt Schatz had its world premiere in June.] It was terrifying, but I always find that no matter how old you get, you should always try new things.

But this one is really kind of my story, my songs. I’m the star of my own play. I have to memorize lines, and even though they’re me, it’s still hard. I’ve never been able to remember my own lyrics. It’s always been that way. I’m using new parts of my brain, I guess.

Where do you live these days?

That’s a really good question! I’m kind of in storage-locker land. I was in Los Angeles during most of COVID and now I’m coming back to New York to do the play and everything and I’m making my decision on where I’m going to stay. One or the other, or maybe someplace new. It’s a wonderful new stage in my life.

Do you ever play with a band, or are you doing mostly solo shows?

Mostly solo. For the play, I have a band. I love doing Connecticut because if I’m in New York I can just drive back.

I tour (Twain House) every time I’ve gone. One thing about touring is that I try to make it so I have extra days so I can go do things. I like being a tourist. A lot of musicians don’t take advantage of that. I remember when I was on tour with Billy Bragg in Europe, all the crew guys would sleep in and Billy and I would get up early and go to museums. Otherwise, you’re just in a green room and a motel room.

You’ve toured with some amazing people.

I’ve toured with some incredible people, and I don’t know how that happened. Warren Zevon, Joe Jackson, Robyn Hitchcock, Billy Bragg, The Fixx, Paul Weller... for some reason, the older Brits really like me.

Sounds like the new musical is the big deal right now, but have you also been writing and recording new songs?

I just recorded, a couple of weeks ago, a little EP. I love this idea of doing a bunch of EPs with different sounds, vibes and things, so I just did using a kind of a jazz trio of upright bass, piano and drums. I didn’t want to sound like I was doing some of my old classics, but I took a few of my old songs because I liked the sound of my voice with the piano. We’re just mixing it now, so I hope we’ll have a couple of things to be working on and getting out after the play is done.

Are you going to record the songs from the musical?

I’d say that half the songs are songs I’ve had already. A lot of it is autographical. I realized a lot of my songs have to do with the angst and horror of going through junior high or high school. There are songs like “Underdog Victorious,” “Strawberry Gloss”... That’s how the idea started, with someone saying “God, you must have had a horrible middle school experience based on these songs of yours.”

Freud got it wrong. It’s not the first few weeks [that determine your life]. It’s 7th grade that f—ks you up. I started coming up with a piece, and writing more songs for it. It’s a small theater, it’s comfortable, and tell me if I f—k up it’s OK, right? Right.

What else are you up to?

Starting a detective agency, playing pro football... but none of that’s true. I don’t know what I’m doing after November. So maybe I’ll go somewhere fun for a couple of weeks. That’s all. That’s all I’ve been thinking about.

Are you a fan of Mark Twain?

Oh, yeah! What a wit. I loved his travel stuff. But this was, and is, the coolest house concert I’ve ever had. I at a bed and breakfast where — who was the woman who chopped up her father and mother? Lizzie Borden! In New Bedford. I had a few friends there and played. But I’ll take the Mark Twain over Lizzie Borden any day. A much better vibe.

Jill Sobule performs Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Mark Twain House, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford. $30. marktwainhouse.org/event/jill-sobule-in-concert.

Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com.