Rickie Lee Jones is coming to downtown Minneapolis for three nights this November, bringing more than four decades of jazz, folk, rock, and soul to one of the city's most intimate stages. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter will perform at The Dakota on November 27, 28, and 29, with tickets already on sale ranging from just under $73 to over $83.
The engagement was first reported by WJON, which described Jones as a Grammy-winning music trendsetter whose sound draws from jazz, R&B, rock, folk, and blues. That range has defined her career since 1979, when her self-titled debut album produced the hit “Chuck E.'s in Love” and helped her capture the Grammy for Best New Artist. The New Yorker has called her the premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation, according to the same report.
A Songbook Built Over Eight Grammy Nominations
Jones has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards across her career, per WJON's reporting. Her trophy case includes the 1992 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female, for her album Pop Pop, and a 1990 win for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group, for her duet “Makin' Whoopee” with Dr. John, a track that appeared on his 1989 Warner Bros. album In a Sentimental Mood, according to the Recording Academy. Most recently, Jones picked up a 2024 nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her 2023 record Pieces of Treasure, an album of ten covers from the Great American Songbook recorded live in five days, as Wikipedia's entry on the album details.
That record also marked a reunion with producer Russ Titelman, who co-produced Jones's 1979 debut and her 1981 follow-up Pirates. According to BMG, Titelman spent months encouraging Jones to make a dedicated jazz standards album before the sessions finally came together in Midtown Manhattan. Jones's origin story as a recording artist traces back even further, to when Little Feat founder Lowell George recorded her song “Easy Money” for his 1979 solo album. Jones's official website notes she was 19 and waiting tables in Los Angeles when George's interest caught the attention of Warner Bros. Records, which signed her not long after. She later expanded on that formative period in her 2021 memoir, Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of an American Troubadour, published through Grove Press, with its title borrowed from a track on that same 1979 debut.
A Venue That Has Grown Alongside Its Bookings
The Dakota itself has a long history in the Twin Cities, opening in 1985 at Bandana Square in St. Paul under founder Lowell Pickett before relocating to Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis in 2003, according to the Star Tribune. In November 2018, the venue rebranded from Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant to simply The Dakota, a shift The Current reported was meant to emphasize its expanding lineup of rock, soul, and other non-jazz genres alongside its jazz roots. The main concert hall seats roughly 250 to 350 guests, meaning Jones's three-night run will put her within close range of the audience rather than on a sprawling arena stage, as previous Hoodline coverage of the venue's expansion noted.
The Dakota marked its 40th anniversary last September with a free daylong block party along Nicollet Mall featuring ten musical acts spanning rock, soul, funk, and jazz, according to the Star Tribune. That milestone, paired with the venue's ongoing physical growth, including a new private event space secured this past March in the nearby Young-Quinlan Building, underscores how central multi-night bookings from genre-spanning artists like Jones have become to its identity.
Elsewhere On The Region's Stages
Jones's Minneapolis dates arrive amid a busy year for touring acts around the region. WJON's report notes that The Ledge Amphitheater in Waite Park has hosted a run of high-profile shows in 2026, including Brantley Gilbert opening the venue's season for a second consecutive year in May, along with return performances from Lindsey Stirling and Little River Band, the latter marking its third appearance there. Tickets for Jones's three-night stand at The Dakota are on sale now.
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