Jayhawks (band)

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Tomorrow the Green Grass, the second major label studio album recorded by The Jayhawks, released in 1995

The Jayhawks are an American rock band. They released seven studio albums, including six on the American Recordings label. As of 2006, the band is on hiatus. While not active, they have not issued any official statement about disbanding and various members continue to collaborate on live shows and studio projects.

The band formed in 1985 in Minnesota with Mark Olson (acoustic guitar and vocals), Gary Louris (electric guitar and vocals), Marc Perlman (bass) and Thad Spencer (drums). They released a self-titled album in 1986 on Bunkhouse Records. Their music at the time, mostly written by Olson, showed a strong roots/country-rock influence. The band worked for the next year on demo tapes in search of a major label recording contract. Those demos eventually were brought together to form the more popular Blue Earth in 1987 released on the Minneapolis label Twin Tone. In this release Gary Louris shared more of the songwriting with Olson. The band soon toured the U.S. in support of Blue Earth. Thad decided to leave the band due to commitments at home with his business and he was replaced by Ken Callahan on drums in 1987 and stayed with the band until 1993, being forced out after the HTH session.

On their 1992 major label release, Hollywood Town Hall, recorded primarily in Los Angeles and at Pachyderm Recording Studio in Minnesota. Though Louris' fuzzy guitar was at the forefront, a clear folksy influence was also emerging in Olson and Louris' songwriting. The album was a hit, powered by the single "Waiting for the Sun", and it brought the Jayhawks a wider fanbase.

Having added Karen Grotberg on the keyboards, the band toured extensively and went into the studio to produce Tomorrow the Green Grass in 1995, but the record's production had been very expensive and the album failed to sell as expected. Among the album's songs is "Miss Williams' Guitar" (a love song for Olson's flame, and now wife, the singer-songwriter Victoria Williams). Drummer Tim O'Reagan joined the band for the 1995 tour.

By the end of 1995, Olson left the band to spend more time with Williams (with whom he would later form the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers). The band continued to record as The Jayhawks, though no longer performed songs written solely by Olson, adding drummer an songwriter Tim O'Regan and Kraig Jarret Johnson on guitar. Johnson, another Minneapolis musical fixture, played in seminal SST band Run Westy Run, Iffy and Golden Smog.

The Jayhawks released Sound of Lies in 1997, with Louris composing most of the songs and allowing all of his influences a share in the proceedings. The result mixed straight rock (the ironic "Big Star"), psychedelic, acoustic (the title track) and even some dub elements, taking the band far from its country-influenced origins. Although the band's sound was often described as as Alt-country, or Americana, the majority of its music bore more of a resemblance to the vast oeuvre of Neil Young than to Hank Williams.

Smile (2000), produced by Bob Ezrin, had more of a pop music feel, jarring some of its more staid, long-time fans. The New York Times positively reviewed the album, but in a nod to the band's lack of widespread recognition, titled the review "What If You Made A Classic And No One Cared?" The song "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" appeared in a Ralph Lauren commercial, and the 2001 film All Over the Guy.

Rainy Day Music (2003), the band's last album to date, was stripped down, more acoustic, and generally seen as a return to their alt-country roots ("Tailspin," "Stumbling Through the Dark," "You Look So Young"). The band now consisted of founding members Louris and Perlman and drummer O'Regan, and toured with ex-Long Ryder Stephen McCarthy, from Richmond, VA who often plays with Johnny Hott and The Piedmont Suprize, who added pedal steel, lap steel, banjo and guitar to the album and subsequent live shows. The Louris/Perlman/O'Reagan/McCarthy lineup toured in 2003 and early 2004, including their first ever appearance on PBS's long running series, Austin City Limits. The band's final, officla show was in Valencia, Spain.

In addition to their studio albums, the Jayhawks released Live From the Women's Club, an all-acoustic live recording of Louris/Perlman/O'Reagan from 2002. It was sold only at concerts as an "Official Jayhawks Bootleg." It includes the original version of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" called "Someone Will". A follow-up, "Live From the Women's Club 2," features a cover of Tim Hardin's "Reason To Believe" and a rendition of "Jennifer Save Me" from Golden Smog, the alt/country supergroup of which Louris was a founding member (and which Perlman later joined).

Olson and Louris toured together in the winter of 2005 and spring of 2006, billed as "From the Jayhawks: An Evening with Mark Olson & Gary Louris, Together Again." Both old and new Jayhawks members have now progressed to solo efforts and side projects, and the band as a whole is generally considered to be broken up, and not expected to produce new material anytime soon. However the band members appear to keep in touch, tour together in their other projects, and have been known to "reunite" at recent Golden Smog and benefit shows.