One of the things I miss most about my decade in college radio and my editorial stint at a music magazine is being in the loop. Most of the time these days I have no idea what’s new, interesting or worth listening to. I just sit in my office and listen to the same music I listened to a decade ago, which is partly because, yes, I’m old and bitter and grouse about how music used to be better in the Indie Golden Days of the ’90s, but it’s also because I don’t even know where to look for quality product anymore.

Still, through the great sea of links that the internet’s comprised of, occasionally I’ll keep surfing until I end up on Youtube watching someone who is just so much to my taste it blows my mind. Like Jenny Lewis.

Uh-huh, I know that she fronted Rilo Kiley and did vocals for The Postal Service (or I do now, at least), but I never listened to either of them. Generally not to my taste. But twangy alt-country singer-songwriters like Neko Case and Kasey Chambers definitely are to my taste so I’m glad when (during random searches for stuff on Sarah Silverman) I can find new musicians to gleefully obsess about.

Jenny Lewis manages to find that absolutely essential C&W balance of heartbreaking and upbeat. Her voice, while confident and assured, can be softer and gentler than Loretta or Neko’s, but that just adds an extra layer of innocence and hurt to songs like “Rabbit Fur Coat” (the title track of her debut album). “Born Secular” turns the tradition of Christian-themed country songs on its ear, not only via the lyrics but through the inclusion of an extremely simple synthesizer percussion track, making what could have been horrendously inappropriate complementary and enriching instead. And there’s a few similar surprises included on the album. Rabbit Fur Coat is constantly more than what you’d hope for from a typical genre release and often so much more, usually in ways you don’t expect. I’m putting the entire CD onto my iPod and it’s not coming out for a good, long while.

So that’s my recommendation to you. If you’ve been, like me, living in a cave for the past year or two and like alt-country ladies, you should probably check out Ms. Lewis with The Watson Twins. All I ask in return is that you leave me comments with suggestions of stuff to listen to—any genre, I’m not too picky—because, frankly, being out of the loop is embarrassing, especially when I’m missing out on music this good.