Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice aka Jenny and Johnny are one of my favorite musicals couples because they are both ultra-talented and compliment each other so well.
We recently recorded a live session with Jenny around her latest solo album “The Voyager” (airing on Monday, 11/3) and seeing Johnathan behind the scenes, clearly providing off stage support, made me want to revisit their session in 2010.
It was then that I realized Jenny had given us a preview of her lead single – “Just One of the Guys” – way back then!
At the time, she said she wrote it to “keep herself sane while on the road with a bunch of guys” and it sounds pretty much like the finished version on the album.
In that live set for MBE, they also sang a cover of “Love Hurts”.
While the most well-known version is the 1975 power ballad by Nazareth, I much prefer the simple beauty of Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons duet. (Keith Richards and Norah Jones later paid tribute to this recording with their own duet at a Gram Parsons tribute concert called Return to Sin City).
No matter how or who sings it, the lyrics – courtesy of songwriting team/husband and wife Boudleaux Bryant – really say it all.
I love this version from J&J. Stream it below and find the full session here.
RR