Credit: Ethan Pangrac | Lantern Reporter
Alternative folk musician Jeffrey Lewis, alongside his band The Voltage, will take the stage at Cafe Bourbon Street, located at 2216 Summit St., Thursday.
Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage — Lewis as the frontman, along with drummer Brent Cole, bassist and keyboardist Mem Pahl and Mallory Feuer on violin, keys and vocals — will be joined by touring opener Grasping Straws and local alternative band Femcel Polycule. Titled the “2025: USA Midwest Tour,” this run supports the release of Lewis’ latest album, “The EVEN MORE Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis,” according to the group’s website.
Notably, the “2025: USA Midwest Tour” marks Lewis’ first U.S. performance circuit since October 2024 and comes on the heels of a 14-day stretch in Australia. Lewis said it is always exciting to get the chance to tour, especially when it takes him to new places all around the country.
“Being a New York City kid, it’s really wonderful to have the experience of being in California regularly, being in Ohio, being in Florida, being everywhere,” Lewis said. “Also, we get to see friends and relatives all over the place, in addition to all the different landscapes, foods and venues.”
Lewis said the new album — released March 21 — is a direct parody of Bob Dylan’s iconic 1963 album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” He said he’s always found the cover image of Dylan and his then-girlfriend Suze Rotolo, looking somewhat cold and uncomfortable, particularly fascinating and wanted to capture a similar vibe with his own album art.
“I thought it’d be funny to do the shoot naked walking in snow, but then there were two years in New York City with basically no snow,” Lewis said. “It’s almost like it ends up as an accidental comment on global warming.”
Lewis said the album’s release wasn’t initially planned to coincide with the Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” which stars Timothée Chalamet and premiered in December 2024. Due to how long the album took to complete, however, it ended up coming out not too long after the film’s release.
“I wanted it to be on the 60th anniversary of ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ — from 1963 to 2023 — but now, here we are in 2025, and the album is finally seeing the light of day,” Lewis said. “So now, it’s just like, ‘Jeffery is jumping on the early Dylan bandwagon,’ but we’ve actually had this in the can for quite some time.”
Feuer said she takes the stage twice each night — first with her own band, The Grasping Straws, which has opened every U.S. date on this tour, and later as part of Lewis’ set.
Feuer said she handled most of the booking for this tour, coordinating with venues on revenue splits and securing spaces that fit her groups’ distinct live acts. She said she personally strives to make each show a fresh and memorable experience for audiences.
“It’s interesting to try new places,” Feuer said. “If we’ve played the same place a few times, maybe we’ll try something different.”
Guitarist and vocalist Dylan Cooke and violinist and vocalist Jasmine Robinson, both of whom make up the Columbus-based opening act Femcel Polycule, said they are fans of Lewis and are happy their first-ever show at Cafe Bourbon Street will be alongside him and The Voltage.
“We saw that he was coming to town, and [Cooke] saw that there wasn’t a local opener yet,” Robinson said. “We just sent him an email based on the contact info on his website, and he answered within the hour, letting us know who to talk to next to set that up.”
The exchange reflects Lewis’ do-it-yourself approach to music production and performance, a hallmark of his career since the release of his debut album in 2001, Robinson said. She said it is an approach she and Cooke have been trying to emulate in their own careers.
“His website, with the message boards and all the interactive stuff, we try to do that on our own website, just have fans participate,” Robinson said. “It’s very down to earth, and it’s really cool. He’s my role model.”
Doors will open at 7 p.m. for Thursday’s concert, and admission is restricted to those ages 18 and up, unless accompanied by a guardian. Tickets are available for $15 online or $20 at the door.
To purchase tickets online, visit the show’s Ticket Leap listing.
This story was updated April 2 at 12:40 p.m. to reflect the correct spelling of Columbus-based band Femcel Polycule.
