Hipsters have nothing on Sharon Jones

There are intra-band rivalries, and then there’s the good-spirited war of attrition happening right now between R&B; singer Sharon Jones and her hot-to-trot backing band, the Dap-Kings. The Kings provided the musky, clattering instrumentals on Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” the throwback-soul single that’s one of the year’s smashes. Winehouse subsequently enlisted them as her backing band on her first U.S. tour, and the group has been sampled by Mark Ronson, Ghostface Killah and Kanye West.

Not to be outdone, Jones, 51, has been kicking it with rock’s Prince of Darkness, Lou Reed, on his touring production of “Berlin,” and recently lent her pipes and charm to the forthcoming Denzel Washington film, “The Great Debaters.” Jones plays, not surprisingly, a scrappy soul singer performing Lucille Bogan’s “That’s What My Baby Likes” in a Texas juke joint.

“I feel like I’ve been on such a cloud,” Jones said after a day of shooting a Dap-Kings music video. “We’re finally getting our due.”

“Debaters” is a sort-of biopic of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at a black college in the 1930s who formed a debate team that challenged Harvard’s. It’s an appropriate role for Jones, whose forthcoming album with the Dap-Kings, “100 Days, 100 Nights,” is fiercely independent in spirit and yet perfectly en vogue sonically in 2007.

Winehouse’s fame plying a similar sound was no surprise; a white artist popularizing traditionally black sounds is the oldest pop formula ever. But the Brooklyn-based Jones, who had to spend many prime music-making years working day jobs (one was as a Riker’s Island prison guard), is the original article.

The brittle, smoky funk of “Nobody’s Baby” and wink-nudge come-ons of “Let Them Knock” seem airlifted from Detroit in the ‘60s yet are almost defiantly punk in ethos. The album comes out Sept. 25 on Jones’ own label, Daptone Records, and stands to teach a thing or two about perseverance to the whippersnappers who catch the Dap-Kings as the house band on Sept. 9 at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.

“I’m not trying to keep this sound a trend,” Jones said. “It wasn’t around when we started. All of us built Daptone from when it was just a neighborhood ghetto thing, but was ours.”

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Inside the mind of Daniel Lanois

Uber-producer Daniel Lanois’ new film, “Here Is What Is,” is an impressionist dissection of his creative process as a producer, composer and songwriter. The film reveals the mental legwork behind his collaborations with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan and U2.

“My friend said that porn ruined sexuality, because sexuality is all about mystery and imagination,” Lanois said. “I’m trying to reintroduce those values from a time before mass communication caused people to be more interested in an artist’s ‘crib’ than the actual record.”

The film, which premieres at the Toronto Film Festival in September, follows Lanois on trips to Morocco (where he was recording with Eno and U2) and Shreveport, La. (with ace session drummer Brian Blade), and captures a rare and intimate piano performance from Garth Hudson. “Here Is What Is” is less a traditional documentary than a dreamy trip through Lanois’ head.

Such a film could have been an exercise in navel-gazing, but in a music culture veering ever more toward instant gratification, Lanois believes that art takes commitment, and “Here Is” is proof of that.

“I wanted to celebrate dedication to one’s craft,” Lanois said. “That’s not a lighthearted matter. The studio’s not just a piece of documentation equipment. You only get out of it what you put into it.”

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august.brown@latimes.com