The Jayhawks, from left to right: Karen Grotberg, Tim O'Reagan, Gary Louris and Marc Perlman.
Gary Louris doesn’t really check himself when he’s asked for his reaction to the recent wave of stories noting that the Jayhawks, the legendary Minneapolis band he co-formed and co-fronted for nearly four decades, have left their roots-rock twang behind.
In fact, he pauses less than a second before unleashing a long and loud hurray!
As Louris talks about re-forming the Jayhawks (the band plays the Barrymore Theatre on May 13) and last month’s release of their ninth studio album, it’s clear he’s feeling a strong sense of liberation — from the Jayhawks’ weighty and storied history, from his own destructive personal demons and from his often-tumultuous relationship with co-founder and longtime collaborator Mark Olson, the ex-Jayhawk who was always happier steering the band into alt-country territory. Olson and Louris endured a second acrimonious split in 2012, just a year after reuniting to record and tour the return-to-glory album Mockingbird Time.
“I think we’ve been typecast a bit,” Louris muses of the band’s history. “I know who I am, but a lot of it comes down to some lazy categorization. A lot of what we’ve done is not roots-rock.”
That most definitely includes the new album, Paging Mr. Proust, a strong 12-pack of songs that banishes the steel guitars in favor of a pop-rock, synthesizer-based sound. Including the title, the album’s sprinkled with literary name-drops (think David Foster Wallace and Robert Frost), thoughtful takes on love and loss, and at least one song (“Lies in Black and White”) that could be interpreted as a shot at his former bandmate.
To Louris, Proust is really more about trying to get back to his own musical roots.
“I grew up listening to Yes, Genesis, the Who, the Kinks and Roxy Music,” says Louris. “I knew who Alan Parsons was well before Gram Parsons. I preferred prog rock over country rock. The latter is part of me, but it’s a small part of me.”
Proust was an “interesting” record to make, Louris says, in part because it allowed him to musically address his experiences with drug rehab and, as he puts it, “my newfound appreciation for what I have versus what I don’t have.”
He spent a lot of time alone in his home studio, pulling together influences and things that inspired him. He culled what felt like the most “Jayhawkian” of his compositions together and spent months jamming with the band’s other current members — keyboardist Karen Grotberg, longtime drummer Tim O’Reagan and original bassist Marc Perlman — to make them into Jayhawks songs. The album also features a few new musical collaborators; the list of producers includes R.E.M.’s Peter Buck.
“It took me a long time to feel comfortable collaborating with anyone but Olson,” Louris says. “But whenever we play these new songs, they feel stronger than anything in our back catalogue. It’s one of those records that just fell into place.”
For the tour, the band’s also added guitarist Chet Lyster. “He’s gonna push me musically,” says Louris.
At 61, Louris’ musical and world view is now shaped by a lifetime of experience, and he’s more than happy to just embrace it.
“I thought it was uncool to have longevity, but now I’m really proud of it,” he says. “I don’t have a fear of failure anymore. I’m just confident in what I do. You can take me or leave me.”
