Way back when in 2003 I saw the Jayhawks play Dingwalls in Camden. ‘Rainy Day Music’ had just come out and this was my first chance to see them. And what a gig, tiny venue, sweaty room, gorgeous, gorgeous music. It was what all gigs should be. And this week 21 years later I was in another tiny room, this time in Nottingham and onto the stage comes Gary Louris. Looking older and maybe wiser he held the room in the palm of his hand for 90 minutes with an effortless display of songsmithery and consummate bonhomie. Never mind that the van with most of their equipment had been stolen the night before; Louris was sublime. Just him, an acoustic guitar and a back catalogue to die for. When he sang ‘All The Right Reasons’ everyones’ hairs on the back their necks stood up (which was lucky really as no one in the room had any hair on their head with the exception of the singer and a couple of outliers!)
Typing this article I’m reminded of two things. One, the power of a great live experience, no matter how big or small – the communion is everything and secondly, autocorrect still doesn’t do Louris !!! It’s always Louis ffs.
With this in mind I’ve dived back into the Jayhawks catalogue with this great if dated video and also the excellent and the criminally underrated support act Dave Fidler. The radio show is a mellow thing celebrating amongst others Courtney Marie Andrews, Chuck Prophet, Andrew Combs, Small Town Jones and more. As ever take what you want or need.
For reasons (sic) that I’m sure are obvious, ‘All the Right Reasons’ got an especially big cheer midway through when Gary played it in Manchester.