@ The Bijou Theatre, Knoxville, September 22
by Andrew Clayman
Published in The Metro Pulse, September 2008
Shy girls with glasses have been jotting down their lyrics for years, so it only makes sense that two of indie rock’s most seductive smarties would appease their overlapping audiences with a nice co-headlining tour. In the blue corner is Conor “Bright Eyes” Oberst, this generation’s rejected nominee for the “new Dylan,” but a highly skilled and successful singer/songwriter, nonetheless. And in the red corner is Jenny Lewis, the Rilo Kiley siren who took a tip from Oberst and spread her wings as a solo artist to great acclaim in 2006. Now, as their paths cross again, Oberst and Lewis find themselves at an amusingly similar point in their careers—flirting with mainstream stardom and pretending it’s the 1970s.
In the most recent developments, Oberst dropped his Bright Eyes moniker and Lewis picked up a cool hat. Released in August, Oberst’s latest album is simply titled Conor Oberst, and was recorded in Mexico with his new group of retro country-rockers the Mystic Valley Band. Hot on Conor’s heels, Lewis just released her second solo effort, Acid Tongue—a far more Fleetwood Macian affair than her folky debut Rabbit Fur Coat. Considering the considerable success of the latter record and last year’s overtly radio friendly Rilo Kiley album Under the Blacklight, Lewis seems ready to say so long to her indie-pop princess past once and for all. Acid Tongue is heavy on R&B grit and guest stars (Elvis Costello, Chris Robinson, Zooey Deschanel, and Lewis’ current boyfriend Jonathan Rice), and it’s an iPod commercial away from making the limitlessly talented Lewis a household name, rather than a dorm room one.
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