For Jayhawks fans, the new Gary Louris and Mark Olson collaboration, 'Ready for the Flood,' is a hopeful thing. It means the voices that made albums like 'Hollywood Town Hall' and 'Tomorrow the Green Grass' classics, are writing, singing and touring together for the first time since Olson left the band in 1995.

The pair have flirted with a reunion before, writing a song for Olson's 'December's Child,' and touring briefly in 2005 and 2006. That built slowly into a desire to work together again -- just the two of them with a couple of guitars -- but they didn't want to do it without new material. But once they were back together, the writing came easy.

"You tune up the guitars, you play a few chords, and then you do what you're going to do," Olson tells Spinner. "It always just happens," added Louris in a separate interview. "It's the most natural thing in the world. We just start singing and it works out that way. My voice goes one place, his goes another."

Fans hoping for a full reunion might get their wish. Sort of. The band played a one-off gig in last year that Olson and Louris said everyone enjoyed, and while they may do more shows like that, Louris doesn't see them getting back together as a full-time recording and touring entity. "The door isn't quite as closed as it used to be, but it's not open in maybe the way they think it's open," he says.

Still, there is plenty for die-hard Jayhawks fans to look forward to this year. Louris reports he is working on what he calls a "Hurculean project," reissuing the five Jayhawks albums from 'Hollywood Town Hall' to 'Rainy Day Music,' a new "best of" collection and a boxed set, all stuffed with B-sides, rarities and live tracks. "It's actually a good time to be a Jayhawks fan," he says.