The Jayhawks are one of those bands who never get old, no matter how many times you hear them and regardless of their current band composition. In 2011 they released ‘Mockinbird Time’, their eighth studio album and a key milestone in their career since it marked the return of the original frontman Mark Olson, who had left the group in 1995 after the release of ‘Tomorrow the Green Grass’, and long-time keyboard player Karen Grotberg. It was their first new studio album in eight years but on the evidence of this performance from David Letterman’s show in 2011, it’s like they’d never been away.
Alas, Olson’s return was short-lived and by the time ‘Paging Mr. Proust’ was released in 2016 he was already long gone. Still, this captures a beautiful moment in the band’s history – Louris and Olson’s vocals together are still an unbeatable combination – in so many ways.
Welcome to ‘Essentials’ a brand-new AUK series where we will be delving into the back catalogue of prominent americana artists and bringing you our estimation of either their top ten albums or their top ten tracks. Long established artists with a large back catalogue, may warrant an assessment of their…
When Mark Olson left the Jayhawks it felt to me like one of the most beautiful songwriting partnerships since Lennon and McCartney was being torn apart like matchwood. Who knew then that the Jayhawks' first album sans Olson would be one of the most beautiful records ever recorded. There were…
It's one of those paradoxes in life that while in my head I prefer the Jayhawks with Mark Olson, in reality some of my favourite songs by the band are from the era when he was no longer a member. The title track from the first record recorded without Olson…
Editor of Americana UK website, the UK's leading home for americana news and reviews since 2001 (when life was simpler, at least for the first 253 days)
