Jenny Lewis

“I’m like indie-rock Zelig,” Jenny Lewis jokes with Apple Music, referring to the staggering number of music legends the singer/songwriter has worked with over her expansive career. Though she’s long been in the spotlight—first as a child actress, then as the charismatic frontwoman for beloved indie band Rilo Kiley—Lewis thrives on collaboration, even when it’s her name gracing the cover. Born in Las Vegas in 1976 and raised in Van Nuys on the fringes of L.A., Lewis often turns to her Southern California roots for inspiration, weaving her detailed, diaristic storytelling through lush alt-country, expansive roots rock, and straight-up pop. Her first Jenny Lewis album, 2006’s soul-tinged Rabbit Fur Coat, was a joint effort with sister duo The Watson Twins and showed off her crystal-clear, twang-touched croons, while later albums have captured more of Lewis’ collaborative—and rocker—spirit. “Each album is sort of a collection of all the people that are kind of hanging at the time,” Lewis says. To wit, Elvis Costello and The Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson show up on 2008’s sweeping, strings-soaked Acid Tongue, while producers like Beck helped bring out Lewis’ inimitable mix of sharp wit and romantic melancholy on 2014’s The Voyager and 2019’s On the Line (which also features greats like Ringo Starr and Benmont Tench).