speed of dark

My brother Uncle T attended Austin City Limits the last weekend of September, and boy am I jealous! But he did bring back photos and reviews to share, so I'll be posting these for the next few days. I am always glad to know what music Uncle T is following. Our tastes are a bit different, so he often introduces me to artists I haven't been paying attention to.

That's why I am going to start this short series with Uncle T's review of Jenny Lewis. Her work with the Watson Twins in 2006 did not excite me, so I was ready to ignore Lewis's latest album. But I have been won over by a couple of the songs Uncle T reviewed here. I really like "Acid Tongue" and "Carpetbaggers." The rest of this post is from Uncle T from his first day at ACL 2008.

~alt-gramma~

Jenny Lewis

Jenny Lewis with Johnathan Rice
This excellent set consisted of songs mostly from her new CD Acid Tongue. She came out looking way cool in sun glasses and a hat, short-shorts with suspenders over a tie-died tank top, playing piano and singing the rousing first song. When she flashed the crowd a quick side smile, the audience went nuts. The show took off into the stratosphere from there.

She had a commanding but relaxed stage presence. It was very hot, even under a roof, and she drank a beer or two between songs but that never impacted her performance. She sang with an amazing vocal range, and her band was top notch. She simply has “it”. She’s one of the best singer-songwriters around in my book, and that set only solidified that position.



Band members:
• Jenny Lewis: lead vocals, guitar, piano
• Johnathan Rice: acoustic Guitar, vocals; Jenny’s boyfriend of the past couple of years
• Farmer Dave Scher: pedal steel guitar; he also dispenses free advice on Jenny’s Website (just “Ask Farmer Dave”)
• Blake Mills: guitar
• Jonathan Wilson: bass (also performs as a solo act)
• Barbara Gruska: drums (a really good drummer)

Set list included (in this general order):
• Jack Killed Mom: I thought this was an odd song to open with, but when the band slammed into the gospel sounding chorus they proved me wrong. Great start to a great show.
• Rise Up With Fists!!! : She played this favorite from her first solo CD next. Great song.
• Bad Man’s World: She dedicated this new song to John McCain. Lovely.
• Acid Tongue: She played acoustic guitar on this song, the title cut from her latest CD. It went over very well in concert.
• You Are What You Love: She remained on acoustic, with her entire band to the left of her around a microphone singing the chorus.
•The Charging Sky: Next was this nice song from her first solo CD, with great pedal steel introduction from Farmer Dave.

Jenny left the stage at this point (probably to cool down a bit), and Johnathan Rice humorously introduced the band as they played their instruments “between song style”. The music eventually morphed into the next song when Jenny came back front-and-center to sing it. This one’s a tempo changing rocker from the new CD, and it was great live.

•Next Messiah
•Carpetbaggers: I love this new song with a catchy Byrdsy guitar hook, and they did it perfect. Johnathan Rice sang the part Elvis Costello did on the CD. Excellent.
•Love Hurts (Roy Orbison cover): She and Johnathan did this together, which was reminiscent of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris’ great version. Magical, with Jenny’s vocals hitting new heights.
•See Fernando: They ended the set with this rollicking new song. Great again.

Afterwards the band took a collective bow and exited to loud applause. What a wonderful set.

MySpace | Website | Label: Warner Brothers
Buy at Amazon.com
Show Schedule:
Jenny Lewis is on tour in Europe during the early part of October before a West Coast tour in the second half of the month.

Look for more on ACL 2008 from Uncle T soon.