Month: February 2011

Gary Louris and Mark Olson left Jayhawks fans in a lurch when they parted ways rather abruptly in 1995. Turns out Olson had tired of all the obligations and trappings that came with the Minneapolis-spawned group’s hard-won success. So he escaped to the Mojave Desert to ply a rootsier, salt-of-the-earth trade with the help of wife Victoria Williams. Ah, but time—and perhaps a little fiscal motivation—has a way of smoothing over the rough patches in many productive creative partnerships. (Unless you’re Bob Mould and Grant Hart.) And 15 years later, the Jayhawks have returned to us more-or-less fully intact. For how long, no one really knows, but they just did a string of shows to back the enhanced reissues of 1992’s Hollywood Town Hall and 1995’s Tomorrow The Green Grass (American/Legacy). With their sugary (if unrefined) harmonies, rugged intelligence and casual accessibility, the albums are to the alt-country movement what One Of These Nights and Hotel California were to ’70s SoCal country rock—even if the comparably modest sales figures may not indicate as much. Louris and Olson will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with Louris.

Olson: In Brescia, Italy, lives Michele Gazich. He plays the viola and violin—and plays both with many dynamics. Do not send phantom power to the stage, because he has a violin pickup that is designed by a NASA engineer and phantom power will ruin his pickup. His group is known as La Nave Dei Folli (the Ship Of Fools). His songs are beautiful, and he works in some Italian dialects. He taught me some Italian and a sense of building the emotional drama in a song until the ending explodes in a series of beautiful, cascading notes.

Video after the jump.

Gary Louris and Mark Olson left Jayhawks fans in a lurch when they parted ways rather abruptly in 1995. Turns out Olson had tired of all the obligations and trappings that came with the Minneapolis-spawned group’s hard-won success. So he escaped to the Mojave Desert to ply a rootsier, salt-of-the-earth trade with the help of wife Victoria Williams. Ah, but time—and perhaps a little fiscal motivation—has a way of smoothing over the rough patches in many productive creative partnerships. (Unless you’re Bob Mould and Grant Hart.) And 15 years later, the Jayhawks have returned to us more-or-less fully intact. For how long, no one really knows, but they just did a string of shows to back the enhanced reissues of 1992’s Hollywood Town Hall and 1995’s Tomorrow The Green Grass (American/Legacy). With their sugary (if unrefined) harmonies, rugged intelligence and casual accessibility, the albums are to the alt-country movement what One Of These Nights and Hotel California were to ’70s SoCal country rock—even if the comparably modest sales figures may not indicate as much. Louris and Olson will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with Louris.

Louris: There seems to be a pattern here. Once again, something where there is one correct answer. It has to be the New York Times crossword puzzle—no matter how hard it is for me to buy that paper sometimes, as they seem to have a particular aversion to our band and can only seem to write about Deerhoof. (No disrespect to them; I like them, too.) But it has to be the Times. I live for the Sunday crossword, although the most difficult one is the Saturday. If I am really pressed, I will do a USA Today. But I tend to buy those books of NY Times crossword puzzles you see at the airport such as Always Sunday or Classic Sunday. I know. I am a total geek. But crosswords are the only way I can really clear my mind. And they get me through those limbo times before and after soundcheck or in the studio if nothing is really happening. In fact, I ended up writing a song for a movie called Wordplay that made the subject of crosswords and the making and solving of them almost riveting. And when I had the chance to meet Will Shortz at Sundance, I felt like I was meeting a rock star, like meeting John Lennon.

Video after the jump.