Gary Louris has billed Dark Country (Sham/Thirty Tigers) as a love letter to his wife of five years, Stephanie. And when cycling through the Jayhawks cofounder’s third solo album, it quickly becomes obvious that these were songs he felt compelled to get out there in an emotionally direct, relatively unadorned fashion. Far from misty-eyed and lovey-dovey, its 11 originals and one cover (Harry Nilsson’s “Perfect Day”) paint an abstract, occasionally disquieting portrait of a real-life relationship that’s survived the middle-age endurance test.
Written and recorded in the Louris’ home studio in Quebec, Dark Country isn’t always an easy listen, but it is an authentic one. We asked him to tell us more about each of the originals.
—Hobart Rowland; photo by Steve Cohen
1) “Getting Older”
“Despite the title, this isn’t a song merely about aging—it’s a song about how precious our time here on earth truly is. It’s a song about not wanting to waste another minute of it in a relationship that’s merely comfortable or a matter of convenience, a relationship where you feel unappreciated and undervalued. It was inspired by my wife and a very close friend of hers, and the conversations the two of them had about what a life well-lived means and what it is to be truly loved.”
2) “Couldn’t Live A Day Without You”
“An out-and-out love song to my wife. This whole record is an homage to her and how she’s transformed my life. I knew heading into making this record that I wanted to do more fingerpicking. Steph and I always share a knowing glance when I perform this song and get to the line, ‘I get crazy once in a while’—which I do.”
3) “Dead Porcupine”
“We live in the mountains of Quebec. Just outside our door are miles and miles of trails, and one is called ‘Dead Porcupine,’ which gives this song its name. It’s a lyric of almost gothic imagery more than a specific storyline. It’s about as bluesy as I get and was inspired by the acoustic vibe of the Stones’ Beggars Banquet.”
4) “By Your Side”
“A story about falling in love, moving to Canada to be with my wife, and building a new life together. Piano was my first instrument, and we have a beautiful baby grand I just had to play on this record. I sent the song to our friend Eleanor Masterson, who arranged and performed the strings and recorded them with her husband, Chris, at their studio in Los Angeles—which are perfect without any direction from me.”
5) “Living On My Phone”
“My wife and I met while I was performing at the famous Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. Steph is Canadian, and I’m American. When we met, it was truly love at first sight. The complications began when COVID hit, making it impossible for me to cross the border. We began a long-distance relationship, never hanging up … always talking, texting or FaceTiming. I was literally living on my phone until I could finally move to Canada to be with her.”
6) “Blow ’Em Away”
“This is sort of an f-you song … a two-of-us-against-the-world song with a Bonnie And Clyde/Badlands vibe, I think. If you can’t take us for who we are, then stay out of our way, because we’re unabashedly in love—and I’ll do everything in my power to protect that love.”
7) “Redefining Love”
“Another love song to my wife. This album is an ode to the woman I’d waited and waited and waited for my entire life. ‘I’m lost without your love’ says it all. Like lovers do, they create a world of their own.”
8) “Better To Walk Than To Run”
“One of the outliers in the love-song department, this is about getting older and starting to look back over a life lived … a song about slowing down and appreciating the road traveled, knowing the end is closer than the beginning. I wrote this with my good friend and sometime Jayhawk Stephen McCarthy. We were on the road in a hotel in Milwaukee, and Stephen had this title, and we just took it from there. He played some beautiful electric, baritone and pedal-steel guitar on this track.”
9) “Listening To Bobby Charles”
“I was determined to write more fingerpicking songs because they’re so damn hypnotic to play. I was inspired by the memory of my mother standing at the kitchen sink and looking out the back window, with her little pink Zenith radio on the sill listening to music—and wondering what she was thinking all those days. Truth be told, she was most likely listening to Ella Fitzgerald or Andy Williams. But Bobby Charles fits the cadence better, and I’m a Bobby Charles fan.”
10) “Two Birds”
“When your lover is also your best friend—two birds with just one stone. This song was inspired by my wife and by the beautiful 1970 Guild 12-string acoustic guitar she surprised me with a couple years ago. We checked into our hotel room in Minneapolis, and there it was … a guitar I’d only dreamed of with a big red bow on it propped up in the corner. The guitar and the girl defined this song—and this album.”
11) “Helping Hand”
“This is a song about being there for someone, being a friend through the good times and the bad, and knowing life is often tough and many times unfair.”
See Gary Louris live.
