Song Spotlight: Jenny O's Lazy Jane (a night at Zebulon)

Music that you hear when in high school or college is encoded into your being. I was past my college years when I started to hang out in the Los Angeles music scene all those many years ago and yet I feel like certain bands just stand out in my memory. In those very first years, there was Automatic Music Explosion and The Mulhollands. Shortly after that, there was Queen Kwong and Rocket. Those were all pop-punk-rock bands. Then the Americana wave (the precursor to the current country wave) hit Los Angeles and I got swept up in that via Eastern Conference Champions (Mondo Cozmo), Honey Honey and Local Natives. Jenny O was part of that wave of music. Many of the mentioned bands have long called it quits. Jenny O is still going strong and putting out music that has you (or maybe just me) getting misty eyed.    

Jenny O at Zebulon

(If you interested in reading a blog post from a more highly regarded blog site, I wrote and took photos of her 2022 set for Buzzbands.)

When I noticed that she was playing Zebulon (presented by KCRW), I knew I wanted to catch the set. There was a prism of time quality to the night as I crossed paths with Lauren Ruth Ward and, to my surprise, Nicole Kiki Jaffe. For a moment, I was pleasantly surprised to see Rachel Goodrich on bass until I was like -- of course, she's playing bass with Jenny O, she's been playing bass with Jenny O for awhile now. 

Rachel Goodrich backing Jenny O at Zebulon

The set was a lovely mixture of songs from her most recent 2023 album Spectra as well as songs stretching back a decade to Automechanic. There were also a number of unreleased songs that will be part of an upcoming album that per her blog was in the mixing process back in May 2025. I am sure everyone who packed into Zebulon is eagerly awaiting the new album. 

Jenny O at Zebulon

What did I notice? Jenny O wore boxing shorts and pink Converse. The attire allowed her to float gracefully across the stage during "Pleasure in Function," the opening track of Spectra. A song on her upcoming album will be "Sun People" and it was then that she mentioned that her album is an ecology influenced record. Ecology and the song itself had me thinking of Mickey Hart's Planet Drum. She joked that that "The Natural World" also fit the theme - it was a track on Spectra.

Jenny O at Zebulon

What else did I notice? Jenny O and Rachel Goodrich love to hug their guitars and bass.

There was (or maybe just my imagination) a reinterpretation of some of her songs. The heart warming "You Are Loved Eternally" was sung with coy vocals at a whisper while the band kept it low-key. For one of the final songs of the night, Jenny O brought up the opener of the night, Dolly Creamer (Sarah Harris). As Jenny O was tuning her guitar, Harris jumped into action and took on some MC duties. "Whenever I'm tuning, I wish Dolly Creamer was here on stage."

Jenny O and Dolly Creamer at Zebulon

The song spotlight is a flash back to 2013's Automechanic and the song "Lazy Jane." Did I get misty eyed during the emotive lament tune? 

I'm never gonna be a cheerleader
. . .
I'm never gonna be a pro skater

Setlist: Case Study, Prism, Pleasure in Function, Sun People, The Natural World, High Speed Rail, You Are Loved Eternally, Lazy Jane, Basta Dystopia, Cheer Up Free Your Mind. Encore: Intuition, Golden.