"A classic country heartbreaker you can dance to" - Wide Open Country
"Fans who know Erika Lewis as the brassy blues singer in front of Tuba Skinny have only gotten a part of the story. On her debut solo album, Lewis...trades in her blue notes for pure country. Lewis reveals a clear prettiness that much of her former work obscured, as well as formidable songwriting skills." - OffBeat Magazine
“...able to sweep up all the sadness and pain of the human condition and bundle it up into something sweet and strangely uplifting…Taking the clear-eyed charm of Gillian Welch or Laura Cantrell and adding a cheeky twist of girl group sass” - Holler.
"Tuba Skinny’s Erika Lewis tries her hand convincingly at Americana on this...It’s a genre exercise, just like Tuba Skinny’s take on traditional jazz, but I’ll take exercises this well executed." - My Spilt Milk
“...light and modern take on folk while still being rooted in the traditional side of the genre” - If It’s Too Loud
"The voice of an angel" - Beehive Candy
Photo credit: Sarrah Danziger
LISTEN: “UNSATISFIED”
Asheville-based singer-songwriter Erika Lewis has released “Unsatisfied,” the latest single from her forthcoming album A Walk Around The Sun, set for release on April 29th. "Although there’s a lot of fiddle and steel guitar on the album, one of my favorite songs veers into a roots rock vein with a driving beat from bass and drums,” Twangville’s Shawn Underwood said of the track. “It’s a tale of trying to manage a relationship when there’s a 24/7/365 party atmosphere all around you and Lewis manages to capture that ambiguity in her vocal delivery...a taste of good music to come."
"'Unsatisfied' was born from life in New Orleans and navigating the dynamics that come with relationships that revolve around the never-ending nightlife," Lewis, a vocalist in beloved New Orleans collective Tuba Skinny, told Twangville. “Unsatisfied” follows “Loser,” a song about the push and pull of romantic relationships, being willing to do anything to make them work but not really knowing what to do, and learning to move on.
LISTEN: “LOSER”
A Walk Around The Sun is a series of lyrical vignettes that examine the margins between love and loss, joy and grief, and longing and contentment. Lewis deepens her sonic palette across classic country, cosmic Americana, and dreamy indie-folk while enveloping a wide scope of roots music styles. Whether it’s through sweeping strings, pedal steel, a hybridized psych-rock guitar, or Lewis’ soaring vocals, A Walk Around The Sun takes a closer look at the connections between lovers and friends, and the effect of these relationships on the self.
Produced by John James Tourville (The Deslondes) and recorded in Nashville at Andrija Tokic’s analog paradise The Bomb Shelter, A Walk Around the Sun features 11 all-original songs that reflect Lewis’s songwriting power across narrative and textures.
After a health scare in 2020 that required surgery that could damage her vocal cords and effectively end Lewis’ career, friend Lani Tourville inspired her to push through and record an album before the surgery. A Walk Around The Sun is another chapter in Lewis’ expansive songwriting and a testament to her fortitude in the face of near-overwhelming pain and doubt.
Lewis excels at bottling sweeping, deeply relatable themes, and unraveling the human experience, all while pinpointing her place in these stories and within the world at large. Her approach as an artist and performer is informed by the years she spent cutting her teeth busking in the streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter and in Europe.
In New Orleans, Lewis joined a team of fellow street performers and friends, making traditional jazz and swing music as Tuba Skinny. Eventually, she built up the momentum to record her own material outside of the group, finding inspiration in fellow New Orleans-based musicians, and songwriters including Alynda Segarra, Kiki Cavazos, Sam Doores, Riley Downing, Meschiya Lake, and more.
A Walk Around The Sun is now available for pre-save and pre-order, click HERE for more information. Be sure to follow Erika Lewis at the links below for the latest news.