Jenny Lewis Follows Her Bliss on “Austin City Limits”
With news of Jenny Lewis reuniting with her former band, Rilo Kiley for a North American tour, after a 17-year break, this got me to thinking about Lewis’ most-recent solo album, Joy’All, and her 2023 appearance on PBS’ “Austin City Limits” (ACL). Lewis was on the iconic music program to promote the album, which reflects her life during, and after, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the 30-minute airing, she and her band (Megan Coleman, Drums; Nicole Lawrence, Guitar; Jess Nolan, Keyboards and Vocals; Ryan Madora, Bass and Vocals) performed six songs. They opened with the title track, which despite the unsettling picture the opening verse paints confirms in the chorus Lewis’ shift to find the silver lining in an otherwise dark cloud. (Yes, that was a Rilo Kiley reference in there.)
The poetic, picturesque, “Heads Gonna Roll,” from her 2019 album, On the Line, was next on the set list, followed by a pair of songs, “Cherry Baby” and “Psychos,” with a theme that fits right into Lewis’ lyrical wheelhouse: relationship disconnect. The last two performances, the empowering ode to singlehood, canine companionship, and life’s simple pleasures, “Puppy and a Truck” (“I ain’t got no kids/I ain’t got no roots/I’m an orphan/Catch me if you can/I’m lacing up my boots”) and the stream-of-consciousness, “Love Feel,” serve as the antidotes to the aforementioned angst.
As is customary after an artist’s televised performance, ACL includes interview footage, where Lewis summarized her perspective: “The older you get, you realize that with the good stuff you have to take all the other stuff as well, and it’s just the balance of the joy and the suffering… I just write through all of the things, the good times and the difficult times. You just write to all of it.”
Check out the performance of “Psychos,” where Lewis makes additional references to balance (“Jesus Christ and the devil/Yin and Yang”; “When you are up and down”; “Is it the ego, the id? Hello, goodbye”), as well as the cyclical nature of life (“It’s a merry-go-round”), that lyric now even more profound as Lewis embarks on that 24-date Rilo Kiley reunion tour. She’s taking her own advice: “Follow your joy’all.”
The Pop Zeal Project (Track 82): Jennifer Hudson: “Let It Be” (Hope For Haiti Now)
Arguably one of the best pop songs ever written, The Beatles’ “Let It Be” will forever be played when questions about life are easy to ask, yet the answers hard to find. Jennifer Hudson’s impassioned remake of this 1970 Lennon-McCartney track was created for the “Hope for Haiti Now” benefit telethon, which was organized to raise aid after a 2010 earthquake devastated the country. (Here it’s 11 years later and Haiti is recovering from yet another earthquake that just recently occurred.) Hudson takes the track to church, especially towards the end, with the backing vocalists providing angelic support. Hip-hop group, and “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” house band, The Roots supply the musical accompaniment, keeping the traditional guitar riff and Billy Preston-style electric keys. Both The Beatles and Hudson versions are equally soulful: the original tender, touching and subtle, with emphasis more on lyrical delivery and a larger rock-guitar sound, while Hudson’s cover, which provides heartfelt sincerity, is focused more on vocal expression. To delve further into the masterful Beatles original, click here.
Sounds Like Summer: Five Songs for the New Season
Is it Monday or Tuesday? There have been times recently when it felt like it was going to be an endless spring, but a new season has in fact arrived. Here are five tracks that can help put you in a summer vibe state of mind, no matter what day (or season) it is:
Nothing like George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” to start the season right. The version from the “Beatles Love” show blended Harrison’s signature track with instrumentation from two other Harrison-penned songs: the magnificent meditation, “Within You, Without You,” and “Inner Light,” a 1968 B-Side to “Lady Madonna”:
Belinda Carlisle’s “Mad About You” is all kinds of sunshine. It’s (literally) upbeat (note the double-time bass drum in the chorus), and of course the video: Carlisle busting out signature dance moves; rockin’ the Ray-Bans; channeling ‘60s Ann-Margret in a convertible. Post-guitar-solo, Carlisle’s lower-register vocals rise to the sunny chorus, musically “pushing the night into the daytime”:
“Just get in and close the door” is what the driver encourages in “Stop for Nothing,” by the indie-pop duo, courtship. (lowercase and with a period). Airy electric guitar (one riff evoking ‘60s surf-music reverb) and deep bass lines (particularly the one after the above lyric) capture that carefree feeling of a sunny drive along the coast:
Kick back with Michael Kiwanuka’s “Light,” a soothing, soulful, symphonic track from the singer/songwriter. In the bridge, the sudden slide down the guitar neck, followed by angelic backing vocals is the sound a sunrise would make:
Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” references “that summer feeling” and a series of signature seasonal items to describe how love—and something more physical as the title suggests—can be intoxicating and addicting. The transition from first chorus into the second verse is brilliant, and how ‘bout this lovely lyric: “Strawberries on a summer evening/Baby, you’re the end of June.” Styles’ vocals also shine on the romantic declaration that is “Adore You,” which includes another nod to the season: “Your wonder under summer skies”: