The “outdated means” labored. Come Away With Me is tender and low-lit, a cocktail of tuneful mid-tempo blues balladry and country-soul that soars with the simple, weightless willpower of a gull. For each assured cowl track, like Jones’ hip-swinging model of Hank Williams’ “Chilly Chilly Coronary heart” or her late-night, besotted tackle Hoagy Charmichael’s “The Nearness of You,” she points a slight nudge in one other, surprising path. “Feelin’ the Identical Method” ambles together with a buoyant bluegrass gait, whereas an accordion sneaks in behind her on the dreamy “Painter Track.” “Lonestar,” probably the most overtly Texan track on the document, provides a soupçon of slide guitar, which strikes round her luminous, multi-tracked voice like a dance companion. Later, on the attractive “The Lengthy Day Is Over,” a downy-soft brushed snare, piano, and low-slung guitar performed by the good Invoice Frisell information Jones’ zigzagging vocals. Her voice swirls into maze-like melodies, rambling from a low whisper to a throaty name. And “Don’t Know Why,” Jones’ hottest track, captures the impulsivity she sought; the model included on the album makes use of her first vocal take. It arcs and strikes with calming readability, like an particularly stunning dawn filtering by the bushes.
Come Away With Me isn’t all unfussy simple listening. “I’ve Bought to See You Once more,” written by Harris, has lyrics that recommend an unhealthy attachment to an erotic dancer: “Traces in your face don’t hassle me/Down in my chair once you dance over me,” Jones murmurs over a Fiona Apple-esque combination of leisurely piano and a keening, unsettling violin. “I may nearly go there/Simply to observe you be seen.” She leaned additional into sensuality on the title observe, dashed off in “10 or quarter-hour” on an acoustic guitar she’d despatched for from again residence in Texas. Its opening verses sound as if she’s whispering to you from beneath the sheets: “Come away with me within the evening/Come away with me and I’ll write you a track,” she provides. With its gently rising refrain, the tune stays top-of-the-line showcases for the earthy luxurious of Jones’ voice.
Upon the album’s launch in February 2002, Blue Notice marketed Come Away With Me with a blitz of press. They shipped hundreds of copies to be offered at espresso retailers, spas, and vineyards, aiming immediately on the over-21 crowd. “Time, Newsweek, getting it performed in Starbucks—individuals want to listen to a couple of document,” Blue Notice advertising and marketing director Zach Hochkeppel famous on the time. “They might not purchase a variety of albums, however once they do, they change into a vastly devoted fanbase…. It was turbo phrase of mouth.” Evaluations have been constructive, with a number of critics drawing comparisons to Diana Krall and Rickie Lee Jones, artists who equally balanced jazzy inspirations with soul, Americana, and pop. The album debuted at No. 139 however solely climbed from there: Jones’ music carried out properly on small-town radio, showing on jazz and school stations and NPR. It helped considerably that she arrived within the wake of one other piano prodigy, Alicia Keys, whose debut had shifted many tens of millions of items only a yr earlier (and who would current Jones together with her Finest New Artist trophy on the Grammys). However Jones’ smoky, comfortable rock strategy took gradual, nearly uncontrollable maintain over listeners. By August, the album had gone platinum.