New York Times:

People always think I'm some 50-year-old black woman, "the singer Joss Stone said recently. This, of course, would not be worth noting if Ms. Stone were anywhere near 50 or anywhere near black. But with her peaches-and-cream complexion and long blond hair, Ms. Stone, 16, is a lot more Britney than Whitney — that is, until she begins to sing. Husky, preternaturally mature, her voice sounds as if it were bred in a black Southern church, not manufactured in a studio. "My manager likes to play a trick on people," Ms. Stone said, her British accent seeming decidedly at odds with her Malibu Barbie visage. "He'll put on my CD, and I'll hide in another room, and then he'll bring me in, and everyone is shocked because they're expecting me to be a black and older." At this point, Ms. Stone began to chuckle. "Maybe I look more like a pop singer than I do a soul singer," she said. "I don't know."

Veering miles away from the sugary Top 40 confections favored by many of her peers, Ms. Stone's debut album, "The Soul Sessions" (S-Curve Records), released earlier this month, is a collection of covers, most of them obscure 1970's soul songs like Laura Lee's "Dirty Man" and Bettye Swann's "Victim of a Foolish Heart."

We ran into our jazz-singing friend Jesse this morning at Peet's. We wanted to get his educated perspective on Joss. His comment: "That girl can flat-out sing!"

We're smitten with Joss. In a world of media manipulation in which musicians manufacture kisses to sell albums, we love the freshness and authenticity that Joss brings to her craft. We love all her surprising contradictions, but most of all we love her respect for the music and musicians who have come before her.

-Tim

P.S. Check out the other articles we've written about Joss.