Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst Made a Record Together 10 Years Ago Called Blood on the 4-Tracks

They want Jack White to release it as an "edible Fruit Roll-Up 7-inch"
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Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst have been friends for a long time. Lewis' old band Rilo Kiley and Oberst, with Bright Eyes, were fixtures in the scene surrounding Saddle Creek Records. In a new interview for Noisey, at Mexico City's Corona Capital festival, the pair talk about a "rag-tag" record they made together a decade ago—called Blood on the 4-Tracks.

The album was recorded by Lewis in 2003 at her "very cute but kinda run-down" apartment in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Jimmy Tamborello from the Postal Service was also involved, as was "this other friend of ours, Nate," likely Bright Eyes member Nate Walcott. It included early versions of the Bright Eyes' Digital Ash in a Digital Urn song "Gold Mine Gutted" and Rilo Kiley's More Adventurous song "It Just Is".

"We kind of camped out in there," Oberst says. "We stayed up for like two days and made a weird record, which I don't think I've ever heard since then." It was the week that Elliott Smith died. In the interview, Lewis and Oberst reflect on walking from Lewis' apartment to the now-iconic Figure 8 mural, which had been turned into an impromptu shrine. "It was a sad, emotional time for us," Lewis says. ("It Just Is" was a response to Smith's death.)

When Lewis brings up the idea of releasing the album in the future, Oberst says, "I'd be into it as long as it's some kind of edible 7" or something. We can talk to Jack [White] about making us an edible 7"." Lewis adds, "We want a Fruit Roll-Up 7" of Blood on the 4-Tracks."

In the interview, Lewis and Oberst claim that they've never made studio recordings together, but that's not exactly true: They covered the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care" for Lewis' 2006 solo album Rabbit Fur Coat, which also featured Ben Gibbard and M. Ward.

Lewis and Oberst also reflect on the night they met, at a Rilo Kiley show at a vegetarian restaurant followed by a prom-themed basement party. At one point, Oberst fist-bumps Lewis, offering props for her continuous hard work ethic. When Lewis says she looks forward to Oberst's new songs, he says, "I look forward to being your friend til the day we die."

Lewis and Oberst both released new solo records this year: The Voyager and Upside Down Mountain.