Women of Musical Genius Wednesday: Jenny Lewis

So here's the long drawn out story of my love affair with Ms. Jenny Lewis.

The fall semester of my freshman year, Rilo Kiley (the band in which Ms. Lewis is a member) was huge amongst the college set, getting all sorts of airplay on the radio as well as MTVu. Honestly, I didn't get the appeal, or at least not enough to really pay attention to them. Plus, their video with the lite brites and the guy with the building for a head and the tragic porcupine love affair kind of freaked me out a little.

Fast forward to this summer. Rilo Kiley has been getting props from all sorts of musicians I revere, from Elvis Costello to Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies (insert plug for next Monday's post here). I obtain a copy of their breakthrough album More Adventurous and give it a few listens through- it's good catchy indie music for sure with some killer country overtones, but I largely let it slip by once more.

Finally, one night over winter break I put More Adventurous on before I went to bed, expecting to listen to a few tracks, and wind up listening to the whole thing, beginning to end, completely transfixed. Like the girl who has been sitting in front of you all along just waiting for you to notice she's gorgeous, I fell in love with Jenny Lewis. The soulful crooning that came from the bottom of her heart mixed with a tongue in cheek wit that every indie rock girl just seems to naturally possess had me completely hooked. Upon discovering she was to release her solo debut in just over a month, I naturally opted to find a bootleg of the advance online (I’m impatient, so sue me). The disc instantly became a mainstay in my car until I went back to school. This was country as it was supposed to sound- stripped down, raw, passionate, and clever all at the same time, not to mention the indie all star lineup featured on "Handle With Care" (Ben Gibbard and Bright Eyes on the same track? surely you jest!).

The icing on the cake, however, was her cover of David Bowie's "Rock and Roll Suicide," I came across, a track so brilliant I burned it to a compilation CD, sent it to my roommate in Ecuador with the only liner note for it being "I think I'm in love here".

Tonight friends, I share what may be the only celebrity crush I've ever had with you. As always, enjoy.

Jenny Lewis- Handle With Care

Jenny Lewis- Rock and Roll Suicide