Used Guitars is an album by the American musician Marti Jones, released in 1988.[1][2] Jones supported the album by playing shows that included many of the album's guest musicians.[3] The album was a commercial disappointment, and A&M Records dropped Jones shortly after its release.[4][5]
Production
Recorded over five weeks in Charlotte, North Carolina, the album was produced by Don Dixon.[6][7] Jones described Used Guitars as a concept album about women discussing the nature of love.[8]Marshall Crenshaw, the Uptown Horns, and Mitch Easter contributed to the album.[9][10]
Jones and Dixon cowrote three of the album's songs.[11]Janis Ian wrote two songs.[12] "Each Time" is a cover of the Jackie DeShannon song.[13]Sonny Landreth played dobro on "If I Can Love Somebody".[14] "Tourist Town" is about a squabble with a boyfriend.[15]
The Washington Post wrote that Jones "still isn't really an interpretive, emotive singer, [but] has a distinctive sound and has never appeared so confident and risk-taking."[13]The Philadelphia Inquirer praised Jones's "crystalline vocal testimony."[19]The New York Times opined that Jones "has one of those flexible, innately emotional voices that, with only the most minor adjustments in inflection, can accommodate rock, country, pop-soul and sophisticated torch music with equal facility."[21]
