Elvis Duets with Jenny Lewis

From ElvisCostello

Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis recording new solo album

Feb 6, 2008, 08:37 AM | by Shirley Halperin, EW.COM

Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis has sidelined her band obligations for a minute to work on another solo album. For the past few weeks, Lewis and a team of Los Angeles cohorts, including singer-songwriter-boyfriend Johnathan Rice, Interpol touring player "Farmer Dave" Scher, and Rilo producer Jason Larder, have been logging full days at Sound City studios in the San Fernando Valley, where Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes and Nirvana's Nevermind were recorded. The all-analog sessions also saw several famous friends drop by to lend a hand with guest vocals, among them Zooey Deschanel, the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson, M. Ward, and Elvis Costello, who duets with Lewis on one track. A source who's heard the record says, "It all sounds super natural, nice, and simple. Like it doesn't belong in any decade. It's just timeless." Lewis' last non-band outing, 2006's Rabbit Fur Coat, featuring the Watson Twins, was released on Conor Oberst's New York-based label, Team Love, but it's unclear whether this new album will stay indie or land at Warner Bros., to whom Rilo Kiley is signed. Several executives at the company are said to have heard it and been very impressed.