This past Sunday evening, July 16, in the heart of New Haven’s downtown arts district, veteran singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis paid a visit to College Street Music Hall (CSMH), a historic concert hall constructed in the mid-1920s that was nearly sold-out to its holding capacity of 2,000 souls.
Lewis is touring in support of her latest solo album Joy’All (Blue Note/Capitol) released last month, a good portion of which was written in early-2021 during a week-long virtual songwriting workshop hosted by Beck. For more than 90 minutes, the co-founder of the charting indie outfit Rilo Kiley in the late-1990s did not disappoint en route to a dazzling performance. But more on our treasured country-rock troubadour a bit later.
The first of two opening acts was Hayden Pedigo, an eccentric 29-year old performance artist who also moonlights as a model and even a politician – he campaigned in 2018 to fill a City Council seat in his native Amarillo, TX. Pedigo mesmerized the growing audience on the general admission floor with four tranquil instrumental pieces featuring exquisite fingerpicking on an acoustic Yamaha 12-string and an electric Epiphone.
Following Pedigo was Cass McCombs who hails from Concord, CA, but calls NYC his home. Born in 1977, the alt-country musician who owns the reputation as one of the great songwriters of his generation was backed by a trio of touring musicians on bass, drums and keyboards. Like Pedigo, music is not McCombs’ only passion – in 2020, a book of his poetry was published titled Toy Fabels, with illustrations by none other than McCombs himself. For nearly 40 minutes, and without much pandering to the audience, the quartet presented a set filled with jaw-droppingly gorgeous, soulful rock delivered with a laid-back attitude, which was more than fine by me.
Smack in the middle of an 18-date tour that kicked off in early-June in Nashville, TN, including an appearance by Lewis at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, the Las Vegas native who first gained prominence in the 1980s as a child actress took to the CSMH stage at 9:15 pm. Bathed in a sea of red, purple and blue lights and accompanied by a foursome of all-female musicians, Lewis gracefully glided about the stage, frequenting an elevated circular platform adorned in red roses or taking a seat at her piano which was positioned front and center.
Lewis’ evocative lyricism was on full display from the jump with “Psychos,” the lead single from Joy’All and her first No. 1 song on a Billboard chart that she earned only two days prior to the CSMH show. Lewis would go on to gift her fans four more songs from Joy’All, but she was sure to spread the wealth around from her discography, including “Red Bull & Hennessy” (On the Line, 2019), “Head Underwater” (The Voyager, 2014) and the title track from 2008’s Acid Tongue.
During the sugary-sweet “Cherry Baby” (Joy’All), red, white and silver balloons were released into the air, much to the delight of the audience, many of whom were in their late-teens and early-20s and sung along to the chorus on several songs. Several of the flailing balloons that were being batted around by the fans depicted the likeness of Bobby Rhubarb, Lewis’ beloved two-year old black Cockapoo who even has her own Instagram account with more than 5,600 followers! Two tunes later, during “Just One of the Guys” (The Voyager), one of the balloons mysteriously hovered between Lewis and her bassist at stage left. Static electricity? A demonic possession? Check out the video below and you decide what the strange occurrence may have been attributed to.
Speaking of Lewis’ dog, as the show turned for the home stretch, the rotary dial telephone sitting atop her piano suddenly rang. It was Bobby Rhubarb on the other end of the line, and she had a joke for all of us! Because most of us in attendance did not speak the “bark” language, Lewis translated, “Why is it so hot at the Grateful Dead show? Because their fans don’t work!” As part of the four song encore, Lewis offered up two wonderfully rendered covers – “Lust for Life” by Girls and the night’s finale, “With Arms Outstretched,” by none other than Rilo Kiley from 2002’s The Execution of All Things.
Following its New Haven stopover, The Joy’All Tour continues for three more weeks, including scheduled dates along the west coast in early-August. For the final three shows of the tour – Bend, OR (August 3), Concord, CA (August 5) and Inglewood, CA (August 7) – Lewis will be joined by the aforementioned Beck and Phoenix, who are embarking on a split bill of their own next month.
No rest for the weary, Lewis and the indie pop supergroup The Postal Service, a trio that she has been a part of since 2002 with Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, will be hitting the road on a co-headlining, 30-date U.S. tour (performing Give Up in its entirety to celebrate the album’s 20th Anniversary) with Death Cab for Cutie this fall. So, in case you missed Lewis this time around, or you just cannot get enough of the “redheaded indie wet dream,” as the rock critic Robert Christgau fittingly referred to her in a 2004 piece for The Village Voice piece, she’ll be back soon!
Jenny Lewis Setlist: Psychos > Do Si Do > She’s Not Me > Late Bloomer > Joy’all > Red Bull & Hennessy > Heads Gonna Roll > Head Underwater > Giddy Up > Cherry Baby > Little White Dove > Just One of the Guys > Puppy and a Truck > Acid Tongue > Encore: The Next Messiah > Lust for Life (Girls cover) > With Arms Outstretched (Rilo Kiley song)
HAYDEN PEDIGO
CASS MCCOMBS
JENNY LEWIS
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