Jenny Lewis

So Jenny Lewis has been doing her thing for a while now – solo, with the Watson Twins, and with her band Rilo Kiley. She’s also a former child actor who moved on to the righteous musical path.

But it took me until last week to finally discover her.

It all started when I stumbled across the video of “Rise Up With Fists”, a song from her 2006 debut solo album ‘Rabbit Fur Coat‘ (with the Watson Twins). The video is a parody of the old C&W variety show Hee Haw, and also features Sarah Silverman. I’m not sure if it’s from Sarah’s show or if it’s a music video of its own.  But suffice it to say that I’ve watched this video about 50 times over the past week or so.

A couple days ago, I was watching it, and looked behind me to see my kindergarten age daughter transfixed as well. She now proudly states that her three favorite artists are “Gogol Bordello, Led Zeppelin, and Jenny Lewis”.  Never mind the fact she thinks Led Zeppelin is Jack Black, because “The Immigrant Song” was in ‘School of Rock’. But that’s quite a top three for a girl about to turn 5.

But back to Jenny Lewis. I love the folksy/indie/country vibe she exudes. I love her stage presence (watch her recent Letterman performance below). I love the effortlessness and clean quality of her singing voice. And face it, she’s pretty easy on the eyes too.

Here’s “Rise Up With Fists”

And here’s Jenny and her band with Elvis Costello, from last Monday’s Late Show with David Letterman. The song is “Carpetbaggers”, from her most recent album, ‘Acid Tongue‘, which came out a couple months back. This is a country-rock barnburner. I love this tune. And like I said, the presence she exudes…. Great stuff.

Me gusto Jenny Lewis!

Jenny Lewis.com