Jenny Lewis brought the good-time girl vibes to St. Louis on a Sunday night. The packed floor that sat in rapt silence for the delicate acoustic guitar sounds of solo opener, Hayden Pedigo, came alive at the surge of electricity Lewis brought to the stage. With a shimmering backdrop of floor-to-ceiling red mylar fringe, she opened with the glorious harmonies of an early tune, “The Big Guns,” from the 2006 release Rabbit Fur Coat. This would be one of the few retrospective numbers of the night, which rarely delved much deeper into the past than 2014’s The Voyager in support of her latest release, Joy’all.
Lewis excels in the art of reinvention and aesthetic expression. I’ve had the good fortune to see her in a festival setting – jean shorts, sunglasses, and sweaty bangs to match the crowd at Bonnaroo – as well as chanteuse mode – elegant and sparkling in a sequined, full-length, high-necked evening gown for her 2019 visit to The Pageant. In celebration of her newest album, Lewis’ performance this time was as focused and energetic as her look for this tour: an all-woman four-piece band in monochromatic black with white accents on their cowboy shirts, blazers, and button-downs struck a simple but stunning contrast with the red curtain suspended from instruments as well as the rafters and a translucent drum kit illuminated from within by red track lighting. Embracing the confidence and power of her inner drifter, Lewis rocked a leather jumpsuit, low-cut and covered in studs, set off with a red scarf tied smartly around her neck. In Joy’all, she seems to have moved past searching and aspiring, now taking the reins and making peace with her path. Her sound had a more bluesy/country flavor this time around, reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt or Stevie Nicks, with a deliberate free-love spirit rather than the uncertainty and searching of the past.
Lewis alternated between the mic stand at center stage and the seated mic at the keys with little banter other than the occasional inquiry about the Oscars results. While it struck me as odd that a musician cared so much about an awards show for actors, I was only last-week-years-old when I learned Lewis began her professional career as the red-headed child actor in all the 80s sitcoms I grew up on. Unlike most, it seems, I came to love Jenny Lewis from her solo career, Acid Tongue in particular, with no background in Rilo Kiley, the band she co-founded with another child television star. But one person’s trivia is apparently everyone else’s fundamental backstory that puts her Oscars interest in context. Unfortunately, we only got one track from Acid Tongue, while it appears other cities were treated to a few tracks from that album. But what we got was just as lively a version of “See Fernando” as ever, and it fit squarely with The Rolling Stones rock-n-roll tone of the evening.
Continuing in the reconciled playgirl vein, Lewis built a setlist of relationships past and present and the lessons learned along the way. Looking back on less certain times, she brought a newer, wiser perspective to “She’s Not Me” and “Just One of the Guys” from the conflicted and restless The Voyager. Second only to the newest album, we heard the majority of 2019’s transformational and self-aware album, On the Line, including the dejected resignation of “Dogwood” and the sultry discord of “Little White Dove.”
These tales served to bring Lewis’ present-day confidence into sharper contrast. Where “Just One of the Guys” was all about the “Little clock inside that keeps tickin’ … When I look at myself all I can see | I’m just another lady without a baby,” Lewis sang an updated tune in “Puppy and a Truck.” With all the carefree abandon of a Jimmy Buffet song, she seemed to appreciate the independence gained by ignoring that clock: “I don’t got no kids | I don’t got no roots … Like a shot of good luck | I got a puppy and a puppy and a truck | And some unconditional love.”
The sound as well as the substance suggest Lewis is glad to be gathering no moss. Like a classic country bard, telling tales of life and loves on the road, Lewis spun yarns with a red goblet at her left hand and an easy smile below her fringe. Ambling, rolling and choogling, honky-tonking, and free-wheeling, it appears she’s found a way to feel all the feels but let go of the expectation, a gift only time and experience can give. Time will tell where the next phase takes her, but for now Lewis appears to have assumed control of her own happiness with love as a journey, not a destination. | Courtney Dowdall
