Jon Bon Jovi: edging toward legendary, he still won't let go of his everyman soul

From 1986's multiplatinum watershed Slippery When Wet to this fall's upward-looking Bounce (Island), Jon Bon Jovi and his eponymous supergroup have been making spirits soar, hearts melt, and arenas shake for almost two decades. Along the way, the New Jersey rock-throb has also cut and sharpened his acting chops (in 1995's Moonlight and Valentino and TV's Ally McBeal), and aroused the fashion world as a celebrity model for Versace. Lesser artists might have slowed down or burned out by this point, but as Bon Jovi tells chanteuse Norah Jones, "It only gets better with time."

NORAH JONES: I'm in Brooklyn. Where are you?

JON BON JOVI: Hi, Norah. Where are you?

JBJ: I'm sitting on the [New Jersey] turnpike.

NJ: Well, it's exciting to talk to you; I'm kind of a big fan. I wanted to talk to you when you were in Nashville [for the filming of the concert special Willie Nelson & Friends: Stars & Guitars, which screened on the USA Network in May], but I was too nervous to go up to you.

JBJ: Oh, my God. I'm sorry we didn't get to spend any time together.

NJ: I thought you were great, singing with Willie. I almost cried when you sang "Always on My Mind," because it's one of my favorite songs, and the way you guys harmonized was just so beautiful.

JBJ: Thank you. I love that song. Willie is the classiest act in the business.

NJ: I totally agree. I want to be just like Willie Nelson. Are you going to go back out on tour pretty soon for your new album?

JBJ: Yeah, we'll go out in December. We're going around the world, but it's going to be a rather short trip by our standards. We used to do the 240-show tours, but no more of that. I think it will be a very civilized tour. I'm pretty comfortable in the big venues, and we're going to go outdoors, so we'll hit as many people in fewer dates.

NJ: What kind of music have you been listening to recently?

JBJ: I'm open to anything, but last week was my "Week of David." Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum, who I've always loved; David Baerwald, who I've also been a huge fan of--he was in David + David, and he helped write Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club; and then I listened to the new Dave Matthews album--and David Bowie. [laughs] Next week I'm going to have to find a "John Week" or something.

NJ: That wouldn't be hard. Did you listen to a lot of country music?

JBJ: Yeah, my mother turned me on to country stuff as a kid. She would say, "Go to where your influences' influences were," so people like Patsy Cline and Gene Autry would be playing in the house all the time. I fought against it as a kid, but in my teenage years I started to understand it, and now, in my adult years, you can't get me out of Nashville.

NJ: That's how I am. I grew up in Texas and I didn't want anything to do with country music--until I moved to New York. Now I can't get enough.

JBJ: I agree. I just love going down there and soaking up the club scene and listening to all the writers. It moves me so to go and just watch someone telling these great stories at the Douglas Corner Cafe or the Bluebird Cafe. I try to get down there three to four times a year.

NJ: What kind of songwriters do you relate to?

JBJ: Storytellers. [Tom] Waits was a huge influence, thanks to his cinematic approach to songwriting. I try to draw a lot from him. He's just so very good. [Elvis] Costello was another, and early storytellers like Paul Simon. Elton [John] was a big influence when I was a kid wanting to get into the business, because of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Caribou as well as, you know, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. You get to those lyrics and go, "Wow. That's me."

NJ: Those are some great records. I really like the song "You Had Me from Hello" on your new album, because you draw on that cinematic thing. Did you intentionally write that from the movie [Jerry Maguire, 1996]?

JBJ: Yeah. I mean, I'm a sucker for a line in a movie. Sometimes I get my hands on a classic play or a script that I've been sent, and f it jumps off the screen at me like that, I'm not afraid to write it. I mean, I know it came from Cameron Crowe. In fact, I made sure I sent him a copy of the demo. I wasn't shy about it; it was just such a beautiful line. I've done it before and I'll do it again. I did it on the last record with a song called "Thank You for Loving Me." That was from Meet Joe Black [1998]. I thought it was a courageous line, and something I might have been afraid to say myself. It's nice to utilize words like that.

NJ: I'm just glad somebody finally made a song out of that line.

JBJ: [laughs] I was talking to a reporter yesterday who said that I (more Bon Jovi page 150) should have written a song called "Show Me the Money" or "I Love Black People." [both laugh] It was pretty funny. She was making fun of me, but I enjoyed it.

NJ: When did you start acting?

JBJ: Studying it, I guess about '91. And I did the first film [Moonlight and Valentino] in '94.