Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins

As a homespun heartache specialist, she’ll never compare to local heroine Kelly Hogan, but we’ll give moonlighting Rilo Kiley frontgal Jenny Lewis a pass. Her tour to promote Rabbit Fur Coat, in league with gospel-singing backup sisters Chandra and Leigh Watson, promises to go down smooth and easy with a conspicuous lack of rocker-girl-gone-solo flash: No fashion statements, no Gwen Stefani–style Harajuku girls. Just the goods.

The alt-friendly heartthrob and former child star (Troop Beverly Hills) is a tad placid as a vocalist, lacking the grit to push her country-soul maneuvers into Lucinda Williams turf. That’s not her style, which is more delicate, pretty and suited to Rilo Kiley’s swoony pop sound. She’s smart enough, though, to enlist the Watsons, twin Kentuckians whose pillowy harmonies lift her low-key laments toward something like grace. The songs, which spin around themes of faith, redemption and hard times in the Hollywood shadows, are meaty.

Despite what fans may think, given her early brush with stardom, Lewis had a difficult childhood. Her parents split when she was three. She grew up poor in San Fernando Valley, California, before acting gigs turned her into the “hundred-thousand-dollar kid” she sings about on the title track of her album. Such autobiographical details gain punch from Lewis’s well-turned phrasing. Sample existential dilemma: “But what if God’s not there??/?His name is on your dollar bill?/?Which just became cab fare.” Lewis won’t likely have the disc’s all-star roster (Ben Gibbard, Conor Oberst, M. Ward) onstage to rev up their welcome cover of the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle with Care,” but her insightful torch and twang, charmingly echoed by the Watsons, should be plenty.—Steve Dollar