Jenny Lewis Resists Joining the ‘Cult’ of Motherhood

“When you’re in your mid 30s, the cult of people who have children around you all want you in their cult, and they constantly ask you, ‘So when are you going to have a baby?’” observed Jenny Lewis during a recent interview. “I feel like, at this point in my life, the records are my children, and I want to be able to make more music and go out and tour it.”

Continued Lewis, “If I were to decide to pursue that other part of my life, I wouldn’t be able to do that. I’ve kind of decided where my priorities are at, but they still want me in their cult. They won’t leave me alone. People with newborns are so bummed-out-slash-happy. I’m all for it, if that’s what you’re into, and maybe at some point I’ll be able to do that, but not now.”

Lewis’ thoughts on motherhood came up during a conversation about the new material she’s working on as she embarks on her latest run of live dates, dubbed the I Heart Cali Tour. “I’ve learned to just talk to people about what I want musically. But I’ve also learned how to express what I want because now I know what I want, and I know what I write and what I expect from myself and the people who are playing with me,” she mused, teasing a line from the new song ‘Just One of the Guys’: “There’s only one difference between you and me / When I look in the mirror and all I can see / Is I’m just another lady without a baby.”

Talking about her progress on her next album — which she also discussed during a separate interview earlier this week — Lewis revealed, “I’m about five songs in.” Saying she started writing during the tour for Jenny and Johnny’s 2010 album ‘I’m Having Fun Now,’ she added, “We’d come home for a couple of days, and I’d go into the studio. I was kind of just demoing ideas, and then I went back in more seriously earlier this year to finish and flesh out those ideas.”

As for what fans can expect to hear during the I Heart Cali dates, Lewis pointed to the tour’s roots in the Bridge School’s annual benefit show, which presents a variety of artists in an unplugged setting. “There’s an acoustic element, but we have some drums and some special guests. It won’t be full rock band style, but I think it will rock in a sort of skiffle sense, like early ’50s and ’60s rock ’n’ roll.”