Jeffrey Lewis rolls out new single and tour dates

Part folkie, part indie-rocker, part comic book artist, how does indigenous New Yorker Jeffrey Lewis do it?

After a 2008 spent almost entirely on the road, including support tours with some of the most respected artists around (Jarvis Cocker, The Cribs, Stephen Malkmus and The Mountain Goats, to name but a few!), as well as with artistic and literary projects all over the map (an illustrated rhyming history of Communism, lectures on the comic book Watchmen, blogs for the New York Times, even an illustrated biography of Barack Obama), Jeffrey somehow managed to find the time to record his best album yet.

'Em Are I by Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard is Jeff's fifth full-length for Rough Trade, and represents the first time that all of the greatest elements of his previous recordings have formed a fully cohesive and amazing whole.

With lyrics straight from the heart and melancholic finger-picked guitar, Roll Bus Roll is the first single from the album.

Roll Bus Roll [mp3]

Jeffrey Lewis will be doing an extensive tour of Australia with Darren Hanlon in March/April.

Tue 24 Mar – Canberra, Tilleys Cafe
Wed 25 Mar – Launceston, The Hub
Thu 26 Mar – Hobart, The Republic
Fri 27 Mar – Sydney, Petersham Town Hall
Sat 28 Mar - Brisbane, The Old Museum
Sun 29 Mar - Pomona, The Majestic Theatre
Thu 2 Apr - Armidale, The Armidale Club
Fri 3 Apr - Newcastle, The Gallipoli Legions Club
Sat 4 Apr - Nowra, The Tea Club Cafe
Mon 6 Apr - Katoomba, Clarendon Guesthouse
Thu 9 Apr - Albury, Sodens
Fri 10 Apr - Melbourne, The Thornbury Theatre
Sat 11 Apr - Adelaide, Jive Bar
Sun 12 Apr - Freemantle, Mojos

'Em Are I is due out late April.

myspace.com/jefflewisband