It’s not because I had a bad experience with Pershing Square security guards that the Jayhawks weren’t awesome! They sounded really great by this mild summer night, downtown LA, and after just a few songs, I realized how many JayHawks songs I effectively knew… a lot of them and each one was bringing me back, back to a time when I was listening to music but was not paying enough attention to artists, it was the late 80’s-early 90’s… but I loved music nevertheless and these Jayhawks songs are still stuck in some part of my memory, even though I hadn’t listened to them for a very long time. And how couldn’t these tunes be stuck in my brain? The Jayhawks write giant hooks that intertwine with your memory cells forever. Take some of their most famous earworms that they played yesterday night, songs like ‘Blue’ or ‘Save It For A Rainy Day’, the vocal harmonies are to die for, and the melodies reveal a deep pop sensibility and sound as the love children of Neil Young, The Byrds and Elton John. The Jayhawks’ sound seems much older than the band really is, and this is a good thing in my book… But you have to wonder, how could they have been making this kind of music mid-90s when grunge was all the rage?
And where were the Jayhawks during all these years? I hadn’t heard of them for a long time, although they have toured quite a bit these last years. They haven’t released an album since their 2011 ‘Mockingbird Time’, but Jayhawks fans can rejoice, they are about to release a new one, at least they said they were working on it, and they even previewed some new materials, songs like ‘Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces’, ‘Comeback Kids’ and ‘9 More Days’. Old or new, everything sounded great, with a slow delivery followed by an explosion of guitars, keys and violin. I guess bands like the Shins or Wilco own them a lot, although the Jayhawks have never been as big as the Jeff-Tweedy-fronted band, and I honestly wonder why when you hear their filled-with-hooky-songs catchy catalogue!
Among the musicians (Gary Louris on guitar and lead vocals, Tim O’Reagan on drums, Marc Perlman on bass, Karen Grotberg on Keyboard, Kraig Johnson on guitar, plus a special guest, John Jackson on mandolin who had flown from New York for the occasion) Louris and Perlman are the only ones who were there since the beginning. Mark Olson may have left the band in 1995 – although they briefly reunited around 2009 – but it doesn’t matter, on Saturday night, they delivered their hits with the same ease and flawlessness than on the records, and probably even more punch and liveliness.
They started their set with the deliciously delusional ‘I’m Gonna Make You Love Me’ giving the tone of the show with a smile on everyone’s face. The whole evening was a series of familiar tunes with jangling guitars and superb three-voice harmonies, and a lot of new songs showcasing their sweet sound both appeasing and emotional. During ‘Stumbling Through The Dark’, the mandolin was answering the keys while Louris’ bright vocals brought up the song to a higher level of melancholia. ‘Waiting For The Sun’, another highlight of the show, triggered some weird flashback in my head, I was not sure where I was going but it felt good.
The Jayhawks still cultivate beauty in these troubled times, and their gentle rootsy alt-country folk can become more animated with stomp and punch. They can even be quite loud, there were a lot of people on stage after all, their harmonies, which have the high qualities of those of Crosby, Stills & Nash, can transform themselves into a radiant whisper, and their melodies, which are mostly upbeat, have a great sense of build up. Most of the time, it is optimistic music, which kept trigger my brain into a nostalgic mode and made a lot of fans sang along, except during the new songs. They were not a deal breaker nevertheless, as the crowd, and especially the woman next to me, kept asking for ‘more new songs’.
There was a bit of distortion on this last song ‘Tailspin’, a sweeping folk countrish tune, which proved again what a national treasure the Twin Cities band is, the songs sound like classics, and with such a catalogue, 8 albums full of timeless anthems, they should have deserved much more success? May be, but it seems they are fine with that, they live in the shadows of music giants – they even called one of their album ‘Smile’, like Brian Wilson’s own, and many of their song titles sound like déjà-vu or clichés. Still. they bring you a quality song after another melodic gem and above everything, they look like they are having fun.
Curious to hear about your issues with security. I took public transportation there with a DSLR. I was told it was not allowed, could not stash it in my vehicle cause it was not there. Security kept it for me. They were very polite and helpful. The venue, the perfect evening, and of course, the music, made for the best free show I have seen since the Gin Blossoms played a freebie down the street from my house 10 years ago.