They did a cover of Dylan's Go 'Way Little Boy with Ronnie on guitar (maybe), you may remember them for Petty's cover Ways To Be Wicked (no Ronnie).

Anyone else enjoyed Maria McKee's vocals? She got into some weaker stuff (Days Of Thunder Soundtrack) later, but LJ had a few good moments.

I saw them a couple of times open for X back in the day c. 1985 .
I liked some of their first album, but haven't listened to it since...c. 1985-ish.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Yeah loved that first self titled album .....
Played the grooves out of it ..... Maria's vocal were hot



ROCKMAN

I liked Lone Justice. I saw them a few times '84-'85, mostly headlining in small venues, and I think the last time was when they opened for X at a New Year's Eve show. They had a promising start but I think there were some line-up changes and then they seemed to fizzle out after the second album.
As far as covers, they also did nice versions of the Velvet Underground's Sweet Jane and Talking Heads' Heaven.

Back in the late 80's I was discussing "what happened to Lone Justice?" with a friend of mine who once auditioned to be their bass player.

The consensus was that there was such a huge build-up for that first record that they couldn't live up to the hype.

Maria McKee would have been better off had she not been "discovered" as a teen, and been able to mature as a person before getting into the spotlight.

Early on, there was an interview with her in BAM magazine where they asked her about her personal style. She said she was into a "1930's Depression thing" and how she dug the look of those old black and white photos of thin women in shawls, etc.

Basically, she seemed to think that those impoverished, starving dust-bowl refugees looked that way because they were making a fashion statement. She didn't have a grasp of the grinding, human suffering endured by those documented in those images.

That was one of the most clueless quotes by a rock star that I've ever read.


Not everybody survives growing up in public.

bought a couple of Maria's solo albums
but they were a bit soggy fort this ole cat .....



ROCKMAN

Saw them once at the Stone in SF. Made a great recording but one of many that were borrowed and never returned.

Quote
loog droog
Back in the late 80's I was discussing "what happened to Lone Justice?" with a friend of mine who once auditioned to be their bass player.

The consensus was that there was such a huge build-up for that first record that they couldn't live up to the hype.

After signing with Geffen Records they spent a long time working on their first album and still playing in clubs. Long before the album came out I remember Robert Hilburn wrote a multi-page article about them in the L.A. Times, touting them as the next big thing. Indeed, they couldn't live up to the expectations.

Second album wasn't bad either, and her first solo album was pretty good too.

I had tickets to see them once, was cancelled "due to illness"...so I turn on SNL instead the night of the cancelled show only to see them as the musical act!

Unfortunately I never saw them live.
This is from an FM broadcast from Amsterdam back in 1987 thanks to DIME;
the version of Wheels here is simply heartbreaking stuff.

[ydray.com]

saw them opening for u2 back in 1987, fun stuff, not listened since then I believe

Blast from the past...where to start?

I got to know Lone Justice by the PV of Ways To Be Wicked. I instantly loved it, the tune as well as the visual. Maria was so cute. Yeah, that was in 1985.

I liked both albums. Although Maria didn’t make much of Shelter, Lone Justice’s second album, Reflected (On My Side) is another favorite of mine among their songs on a par with WTBW. Sadly they came and went so soon. LJ didn’t tour Japan in their brief history.

In hindsight, I have to agree with these comments by loog droog;
“The consensus was that there was such a huge build-up for that first record that they couldn't live up to the hype.”
“Maria McKee would have been better off had she not been "discovered" as a teen, and been able to mature as a person before getting into the spotlight.”

Shane Fontayne, who joined LJ during the Shelter period and was also a recording member of Maria McKee’s self-titled first solo album, played the guitar when Mick Taylor toured Japan in 1989. After they finished the club show in Osaka, the members stayed on the floor, giving autographs to the fans. As I showed Shane the CD booklets of Shelter and Maria McKee for his autograph, he went knowingly, “Yeah!”

In 1996, Maria finally set foot in Japan for the Life Is Sweet tour. Unfortunately, the audience was quite sedate in Osaka despite a small club setting. I remember, in the eerie quietness, she spit off the word, “I hate it!” And a lightning speed version of WTBW. My memory stops here.

I loved LJ and played the first album endlessly, discovered them by luck, an FCC thought every track was fantastic, turned my friends at work with the album, and enjoyed the second album, but thought it wasn’t as good, I had them on cassette, don’t really feel I want to go back, but I still like Maria McKee’s voice, and the country rock sound!