Photo by Bobbi Rich
American singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Jenny Lewis has shared her first album in four years, Joy’All, will release on June 9 via Blue Note/Capitol Records. Accompanying the album, which serves as Lewis’ fifth solo LP and follow-up to her 2019 record On The Line, comes a new single titled “Psychos.”
Joy’All marks the first offering since signing with Blue Note/Capitol Records and sees her set off on a new era in a new town.
“I started writing some of these songs on the road, pre-pandemic… and then put them aside as the world shut down, and then from my home in Nashville in early 2021, I joined a week-long virtual songwriting workshop with a handful of amazing artists, hosted by Beck,” Lewis shared. “The challenge was to write one song every day for seven days, with guidelines from Beck. The guidelines would be prompts like ‘write a song with 1-4-5 chord progression,’ ‘write a song with only cliches,’ or ‘write in free form style.’ The first song I submitted to the group was ‘Puppy and a Truck.’”
Through Beck’s assignments, Lewis ultimately ended up crafting a solid portion of Joy’All. The project pulls from a melange of influence from ’90s R&B and soul to country and was produced by eight-time Grammy award-winning producer Dave Cobb who is known for his work with Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell and John Prine. Lewis met Cobb by chance while visiting Lucius at RCA Studio A in Nashville, Tenn., which is where Joy’All ended up being shaped as well.
“Dave works fast and we cut the bulk of the record with his incredible house band (Nate Smith, Brian Allen and Cobb on guitar, and myself on acoustic guitar & vocals) live on the floor in a couple of weeks,” Lewis added. “Jess Wolfe came back to the studio to provide background vocals on the record and then Greg Leisz and Jon Brion added pedal steel, B-Bender guitar and Chamberlin, respectively, back in L.A..”
Lewis has a string of performances set for the summer, starting on June 2 in Nashville and concluding on Aug. 7 in Los Angeles. During her travels, she’ll share the stage with Trampled By Turtles, Beck, Phoenix, Cass McCombs, Hayden Pedigo and Jenny O.
Pre-order Joy’All includes the aforementioned and previously released single “Puppy and a Truck” here.
Listen to Lewis’ “Psychos” below.
Joy’all Tracklist
1. Psychos
2. Joy’all
3. Puppy and a Truck
4. Apples and Oranges
5. Essence of Life
6. Giddy Up
7. Cherry Baby
8. Love Feel
9. Balcony
10. Chain of Tears
Jenny Lewis 2023 Live Dates
June 02 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater ^
June 03 – Lexington, KY – Railbird Festival
June 17 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo
July 06 23 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
July 07 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed &
July 08 – Duluth, MN – Bayfront Festival Park #
July 12 – Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre &
July 13 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues &
July 15 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner @
July 16 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall @
July 18 – New York, NY – The Rooftop at Pier 17 @
July 20 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia @
July 22 – Washington, DC – The Anthem @
Aug. 01 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Aug. 03 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater *
Aug. 05 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion *
Aug. 07 – Los Angeles, CA – Kia Forum *^ with Ruston Kelly
# with Trampled By Turtles
* with Beck, Phoenix
@ with Cass McCombs, Hayden Pedigo
& with Jenny O., Hayden Pedigo