Pitchfork

Jenny Lewis is about to hit the road on her fall North American tour. She's working on new solo material and the next Rilo Kiley record, and a new Postal Service album looms in the future. But we'll get to all that later.

Right now, Jenny Lewis wants to talk about Too $hort.

Recently, Lewis went to a Justin Timberlake record release party in L.A. ("I myself was not invited, but I was tagging along with my friends," she points out. "Justin didn't perform, but he was there. And Lil Jon was there wearing a Bad Brains jacket. It was a pretty exciting evening, and the champagne was free.") And who should she bump into but the legendary Bay Area rapper?

"This, I feel, is something to brag about. Too $hort is one of my idols, and he didn't know that I was in a band or played music or anything. But I was gushing, 'God, Too $hort, I've really loved you since high school, and "Don't Fight the Feelin'" is one of my favorite raps, and I know all the words and I think it's a true equal opportunity song for men and women' and at the end of our conversation he said, 'Well let me get your email address', but first he asked me if I was a real redhead, which was kind of uncomfortable, and then he said 'Let me have your email address,' And I was like 'Of course!' and he typed it into his Blackberry and then typed in his phone number and sent me an email with his phone number! So exciting!

"But then when I got home I realized that he faked me out and he didn't actually send it."

OOH! Dissed by Too $hort! That's gotta burn!

Fortunately, Lewis has many avenues through which to drown her sorrows. Her North American tour kicks off tonight in Salt Lake City. Lewis will be backed by the heavenly harmonies of the Watson Twins on the trek, as well as by Jonathan Rice, "Farmer Dave", Michael Runion, and Rilo Kiley drummer Jason Boesel.

"It's always challenging when you're touring for only one record, and the record only has ten or eleven songs on it, but we try every night to play almost everything from the record, and then kind of add as we go along," Lewis says.

She mentioned that the band plans to play two covers on this trek: the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care", which appeared on Lewis' album Rabbit Fur Coat, and the Shirelles' "I Met Him on a Sunday".

"We didn't do ['Handle With Care'] on our last U.S. tour," Lewis says. "I forgot how to play the song on my guitar. So I've re-learned how to play the song, and the girls are actually singing the Roy Orbison part, which is nice to have two instead of one, on that particular verse."

As for "I Met Him on a Sunday", Lewis says, "It's actually on a record that loosely inspired [Rabbit Fur Coat], Laura Nyro and LaBelle's Gonna Take a Miracle. There's a cover of that song on that record, so we're kind of doing Laura Nyro's version of that song."

Lewis added that she will also be playing "four or five new songs", and hopes to make another solo record someday. "I don't know who it will end up being with or when I'll get a chance to do that, but certainly I've got a couple songs that could go on it."

Are the new songs in the same vein as Rabbit Fur Coat's country-soul heartbreakers? "No, not exactly," Lewis says. "I think when you put together a country band and you have a lap steel or a pedal steel guitar, some of the songs tend to take on a country feel. But I think at least when I write a song, the intention is usually pretty straightforward. It's either a folk song or a pop song, and then typically in the studio or on the road, they take on different feelings."

Lewis says that she's been spending a lot of time "perfecting my shitty approach to GarageBand on my computer." She adds, "I've just discovered the sort of loop section, which consists of really 90s drum loops, so I'm learning how to manipulate those. You can find me at three in the morning in my living room with a glass of wine and really bad 90s trip hop beats blaring from my headphones."

One of the new tunes fans will hear on the road in the coming weeks is "Acid Tongue" ("as in 'totally trippy'", says Lewis), which may end up on Rilo Kiley's next record.

"I think we've done most of our tracking," Lewis says of that album. "I know [co-bandleader] Blake [Sennett] has a couple of things that he has to do, so I think we're going to start mixing in November. I think we've recorded about twenty songs."

Another potential track for the Rilo Kiley record is "Pull Me in Tighter", which the band has played live in the past, but has been significantly reworked in the studio.

As for the Postal Service, Lewis says that she hasn't begun working with TPS principals Jimmy Tamborello and Ben Gibbard on their next record, but hopes to soon. "I think Ben and Jimmy have started the process. And I'm just kind of waiting. If they want me to be involved, then I'd be more than happy to help out."

What about that rumor going around the internet that Gibbard, Tamborello, and Lewis would each be writing a third of the record?

"Oh wow. I don't know if that will end up being true, but then whatever they ask of me, I'll be willing to participate. I wouldn't want to suck it up at all. That's scary."

One thing's for sure: we won't be hearing Jenny Lewis rap on any records anytime soon, despite her love for Too $hort. "I'm a pretty terrible rapper," she says. "I always have been."

Jenny Lewis tour dates:

09-29 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
09-30 Denver, CO - The Fillmore *
10-01 Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium
10-03 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
10-04 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
10-05 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
10-06 Detroit, MI - St. Andrews
10-07 Toronto, Ontario - Trinity St. Paul Church
10-08 Buffalo, NY - Center for the Arts
10-09 Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center
10-10 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
10-12 New York, NY - Town Hall
10-13 New York, NY - Town Hall
10-14 Northampton, MA - Academy of Music
10-15 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
10-17 Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom
10-19 Tampa, FL - Tampa Theatre
10-20 Orlando, FL - The Club at Firestone
10-21 New Orleans, LA - The Parish at House of Blues
10-23 Austin, TX - Stubb's BBQ
10-24 Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
10-25 Fort Worth, TX - Ridglea Theatre
10-29 Las Vegas, NV - Sam Boyd Stadiu (Vegoose)
10-30 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
12-02 Mesa, AZ - Mesa Amphitheater ^
12-05 Irvine, CA - Bren Events Center ^
12-06 Santa Barbara, CA - Arlington Theatre ^
12-09 Seattle, WA - Key Arena ^

* with North Mississippi Allstars
^ with Death Cab for Cutie