Jeffrey Lewis (born November 20, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and comic book artist. Lewis was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. He attended State University of New York at Purchase, graduating in 1997 with a degree in Literature. His Senior Literary Thesis was on the comic book Watchmen. Several of his musical influences have been acknowledged in his songs such as "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror", "The History of The Fall" and "The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song", concerning the song by Leonard Cohen. Lewis' lyrics are complex and literate, often combining a nihilistic world-view with a hopeful message and sharp wit. Growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, his songs are also highly informed by his home surroundings, with songs name-dropping places such as Williamsburg, the FDR Drive and the East River. Lewis is often regarded as part of the antifolk movement.
In an interview with Louder Than War in 2015, Lewis mentioned meeting Peel briefly when he was doing a live session at Maida Vale for his show in 2002 and also claimed that he only ever encountered people who love John Peel, but did say that he saw a dissenting opinion:
"I’ve only ever encountered people who love John Peel. Just recently was the first time I ever saw a dissenting opinion. In the book ‘The Story Of Crass’ the guy who originally put Crass’s albums out on the Small Wonder record label said something interesting. He reckons that the first interest in punk was dampened down because Peel was given such prominence. For a brief time it was such a creative free for all but somehow it turned into one guys opinion of what was cool. Because what happened was whatever Peel thought was cool got exposure and what Peel thought was uncool didn’t. And power became so centralized that this happened. Bands thought it was better to have one album than none at all."[1]
On his 31 July 2002 show, Peel mentioned that he discovered Jeffrey Lewis through the attention of Cornershop, who recommended the artist to him after he toured with them.
