Rilo Kiley’s music is rooted in memory

The songs on Rilo Kiley’s second album, “The Execution of All Things,” are catchy and down-to-earth, but they also carry a hint of childhood mystery, with Jenny Lewis’ voice and nursery rhyme passages suggesting that the adult struggles outlined in the songs are rooted in the deepest memories.

So it somehow seems appropriate when the singer looks around the old-school Silver Lake coffee shop where she’s having lunch and says her mother once was a waitress here. These bonds are powerful for Lewis, and by extension for her band.

“Because of my family, I feel that music is part of my genetic makeup,” she says. “It wasn’t a choice, it was just sort of a given. When I met Blake it was probably like when my mom met my dad. Like, ‘Oh, this is what I’m gonna do now.’ ”

Blake is Blake Sennett, Lewis’ boyfriend and the co-leader of a group that has broken from the L.A. pack in the nine months since “Execution” came out. The album has sold 15,000 copies, nearly tripling the total of its debut, 2001’s “Take Offs and Landings.”

Lewis’ parents were a duo called the Way of Love. Mom sang and played bass and drum machine, Dad blew a massive chord harmonica, and they served up Sonny & Cher tunes in Las Vegas lounges and nightclubs around the Southwest. Jenny and her sister were along for the ride.

“It’s a hard life being a performer,” Lewis says, more in admiration of her parents’ spirit than any sense of self-congratulation.

She’s shocked at the quartet’s steady evolution from coffeehouse duo to Spaceland regulars to tour mates with heroes such as Elliott Smith to headliners in their own right (they play the Henry Fonda Theatre on Sunday, where they recently opened for Smith).

“I’ve never been a great planner,” says Lewis. “We were just doing it because we wanted to play more shows and record more stuff.... We were obsessed with Modest Mouse and Pavement and Built to Spill and all this stuff, and we knew these bands would come through our town every couple of months, so I guess that inspired us to keep going.”

The band’s biggest leap was the result of an on-the-road friendship with the Goodlife, a band from Omaha’s thriving scene. It wasn’t long before Rilo Kiley (the name is a character in one of Sennett’s dreams) had signed with the city’s Saddle Creek label and was recording “Execution” in Lincoln, Neb., with producer Mike Mogis, a cohort of Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst.

“The first time I saw them play, it just seemed like she was someone who was gonna be around for a while,” Saddle Creek owner Robb Nensel said. “She reminded me of a Cat Power or a Liz Phair type of figure. Very attention demanding.”

Lewis is amused to be getting that kind of attention. It wasn’t long ago that she was on the other side.

“I would go see bands and squeeze up in the front row and try to snag the set list,” Lewis said. “The other night I thought about that when we were playing with [Elliott Smith], like if this guy only knew how much we admire him and how important he is and how he gave us the force to play music.”

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Rilo Kiley

Where: Henry Fonda Theatre, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

When: Sunday, 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $12-$14

Info: (323) 464-0808