''Rabbit Fur Coat'' is an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

in collaboration by

Jenny Lewis Jennifer Diane Lewis (born January 8, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and keyboardist for the indie rock band Rilo Kiley. Lewis gained prominence in the 1980s as a child ...

Rilo Kiley Rilo Kiley ( ) is an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1998, the band consists of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Jason Boesel. The group released their debut album '' Take-Offs and Landing ...

, with

The Watson Twins The Watson Twins are an Americana band based in Nashville, TN formed by identical twin sisters Chandra and Leigh Watson. Biography Chandra and Leigh were born on March 17, 1975, in Tulsa, Oklahoma and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. They atten ...

. It was released in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on January 24, 2006, by

Team Love Team Love is an independent record label based in New Paltz, New York, and Portland, Maine. The label was founded by Conor Oberst and Nate Krenkel in 2003. It has released albums by several recording artists. Team Love also released the docum ...

. Lewis has described the album as a "sort of

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

record". The album contains a cover of the

Traveling Wilburys The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 1988, consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. They were a roots rock band and described as "perhaps the biggest sup ...

song " Handle With Care", featuring

Ben Gibbard Benjamin Gibbard (born August 11, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums, and as a membe ...

(of

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie (commonly abbreviated to DCFC or Death Cab) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. The ...

Conor Oberst Conor Mullen Oberst (born February 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes (band), Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos (band), Desaparecidos, the Faint (previou ...

(of Bright Eyes) and

M. Ward Matthew Stephen "M." Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter, Grammy nominated producer and guitarist from Glendale, California. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings. He has r ...

. Lewis embarked on her first solo tour to support the album, with

Johnathan Rice Johnathan Rice (born May 27, 1983) is a Scottish-American singer-songwriter. He used to frequently collaborate with Jenny Lewis. His first album, ''Trouble is Real'', was released on Reprise Records on April 26, 2005. His follow-up, ''Furthe ...

and either Whispertown 2000 or

The Blow The Blow is an American electro pop band, comprising Khaela Maricich and Melissa Dyne. Maricich and Dyne write, compose, produce and perform all the music. It was formed as a solo project by Maricich in 2002, and she was joined by Jona Bechtolt ...

opening. She also appeared on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

'', ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'', and ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the The Late Late Show (American talk show), ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airi ...

'' in support of the album. This album is the 8th release of

Team Love Records Team Love is an independent record label based in New Paltz, New York, and Portland, Maine. The label was founded by Conor Oberst and Nate Krenkel in 2003. It has released albums by several recording artists. Team Love also released the documen ...

. Listeners of ''

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online podcast and radio program hosted by Robin Hilton. It was created in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' then-director Bob Boilen and produced by Robin Hilton beginning in 2001. At first, ...

'',

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's online music show, voted the album the eighth best of 2006. A

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

reissue of ''Rabbit Fur Coat'' was released in January 2016, marking its 10th anniversary. Lewis was also joined in early 2016 by

and

for a brief tour celebrating the anniversary.

Composition

''Coat'' is aligned with several roots music genres, primarily "rootsy"

country folk Contemporary folk music refers to a wide variety of genres that emerged in the mid-20th century and afterwards which were associated with traditional folk music. Starting in the mid-20th century, a new form of popular folk music evolved from tradi ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

Reception

''Rabbit Fur Coat'' received generally favorable reviews and maintains a normalized rating of 78 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

based on 24 professional reviews. Actress

Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime ...

was quoted in ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' as calling ''Rabbit Fur Coat'' "beautiful, funny, and very subversive".

Legacy and impact

Within Jenny Lewis' discography, ''Rabbit Fur Coat'' is considered "a pivotal key change" for her, serving as a springboard for "one of modern

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

's most reliably cool careers." Deemed her "melancholy opus," ''Coat'' is known as " tantalizing effort" that led Lewis to success both critically and commercially beyond her band

. ''Coat'' has impacted several musicians in the time since its release. In a 2012

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

feature, Swedish

indie folk Indie folk (also called alternative folk) is an alternative genre of music that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Characteristics The staff of '' Paste Magazine'' said in 2020: "No music genre ...

duo

First Aid Kit A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give First aid, immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents o ...

revealed their use of ''Coat'' as a reference point while making their album '' The Lion's Roar'', released that same year. They credited it with prompting them to both "seek solace in sad songs" and to more deeply explore

Americana music Americana (also known as American roots music) is an amalgam of Music of the United States, American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States of America, with particul ...

's catalog. In a 2018 interview, they admitted that "when we started out, we basically tried to write songs like the ones" on ''Coat''. That same year, Liz Stokes of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

indie rock band

The Beths The Beths are a New Zealand indie rock band, formed in Auckland in 2014. The group principally consists of lead vocalist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck. Meeting at the Universit ...

wrote that the album "formed the basis of my very first band". Other groups its impact has been noted on include

Best Coast Best Coast is an American rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 2009, currently on hiatus. The band consisted of songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Bethany Cosentino and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno. Cosentino, a for ...

and

Waxahatchee Waxahatchee is an American indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Kathryn Crutchfield (born January 4, 1989), known professionally as Katie Crutchfield, following the breakup of her previous band P.S. Eliot. The ban ...

Tracks

''People'' noted that album's first track "Run Devil Run," was "old-time gospel" with Chandra and Leigh Watson providing a cappella backing. with other reviews calling the opener track "a breathy, gospel-tinged number" with a "blast of impassioned close harmony bluegrass-style vocals." Two singles were released: "Rise Up With Fists!!" and "You Are What You Love".

Track listing

(all tracks written by Lewis except where noted) # "Run Devil Run" – 1:06 # "The Big Guns" – 2:32 # "Rise Up with Fists!!" – 3:36 # "Happy" – 4:14 # "The Charging Sky" – 2:56 # "Melt Your Heart" – 2:50 # "You Are What You Love" – 2:51 # "Rabbit Fur Coat" – 4:32 # " Handle with Care" (

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and, latterly, sole member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which was formed in 1970. He has written all of ...

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...

) – 2:56 # "Born Secular" – 5:07 # "It Wasn't Me" – 4:10 # "Happy (Reprise)" – 0:48

Charts

As of 2007, sales in the United States have exceeded 112,000 copies, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

Personnel

Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins

– lead vocals, guitar * Chandra Watson – backing vocals * Leigh Watson – backing vocals

Musicians

* James Valentine – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals *

– backing vocals *

Jason Boesel Jason Lyon Boesel (born August 17, 1977) is an American musician, songwriter and producer based in Los Angeles. He was the drummer for Rilo Kiley and has also played with The Elected and Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. Bands He also ...

– drums *

Mike Mogis Mike Mogis is an American producer/mixer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who owns ARC Studios (Another Recording Company) in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha. Mike, along with his brother A. J. Mogis, A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Stud ...

– guitar, producer *

Mickey Madden Michael Allen Madden (born May 13, 1979) is an American musician and former bassist for the pop rock band Maroon 5. Life and music career Madden was born in Austin, Texas. He began playing in junior high school at the Brentwood School in Los ...

– bass *

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and contributed to five songs that pe ...

– producer, keyboards, backing vocals *Mike Bloom – engineer * Matt Ward – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, producer * Larry Crane – engineer * Michael Runion – photography *

Benjamin Gibbard Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

– guitar, backing vocals *

– guitar, backing vocals * David Scher – backing vocals * Rachel Bloomberg – backing vocals

References

{{Authority control 2006 debut albums Jenny Lewis albums The Watson Twins albums Team Love Records albums Albums produced by Mike Mogis