Jayhawks 'Give the People What They Want' With New Album, Reunion Tour

Posted on Jan 14th 2011 2:00PM by Eric R. Danton
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Jordi Vidal/Redferns

In retrospect, the Jayhawks' dissolution in 2005 was a tad premature, singer and guitarist Gary Louris tells Spinner.

"At the time it seemed like a good idea," he says wryly. "Maybe we should have just said we were going on hiatus. It felt like the end, but life is just a bit unpredictable."

True enough. Almost six years later, the band is back together for a tour and new album, with founding member Mark Olson in the fold for the first time since he left after the group's 1995 release 'Tomorrow the Green Grass.'

It's one of two albums, along with 1992's 'Hollywood Town Hall,' that the band reissues Tuesday, Jan. 18, following the re-release last year of the Jayhawks' self-titled 1986 debut. Revisiting the '90s albums is the occasion for a quick five-city winter tour that starts Jan. 18. With two nights each in New York, Chicago and Minneapolis, the band's tentative plan is to perform all of 'Hollywood Town Hall' one night and all of 'Tomorrow the Green Grass' the next.

"That's what we're asked to do," Louris says. "Whether we will or not remains to be seen, but we probably will."

The band took its first steps toward re-forming with a handful of one-off festival shows in 2008-09, and Olson and Louris released 'Ready for the Flood' under their own names in 2009 -- the first time they had recorded an album together since 1995.

They returned to the studio last November with bassist Marc Perlman, keyboardist Karen Grotberg and drummer Tim O'Reagan to record a new Jayhawks album due sometime this spring or summer.

"We really felt like we wanted to make a record for the fans and give the people what they want, in a way, and quit fighting it," Louris says. "We all got excited about it and the songs are coming."

They came fast, too, and Louris and Olson discovered their creative chemistry was very much intact.

"Mark and I, the way we sing and the way we write, I don't want to say it's effortless but we have our thing and usually we roll up our sleeves and we get it done," Louris says. "It was always a very natural thing. We seem to balance each other vocally and the way we write. I'm more structured -- I tend to like things a little more symmetrical, and he's a little more asymmetrical."

Along with the old chemistry, the band brings a new work ethic to its revived career.

"The old Jayhawks, we didn't read the contracts, didn't pay attention to the promotion and of course there wasn't Internet when the Jayhawks started," Louris says. "We've gotten new management, new legal, a new label, a person running media. We kind of have our s--- together more than we ever have. We're more organized and more serious than we used to be."

In addition to reaching old fans, the band hopes its more focused approach helps the Jayhawks build a new audience, too.

"There's a certain age group that wasn't around when we were playing or couldn't get in, so I hope that we get some new fans who weren't there when we were out toiling without cellphones or laptop computers," Louris says.

The Jayhawks Perform 'Tomorrow the Green Grass' in 2010