The Jayhawks

×

Expand

Steve Cohen

The four members of The Jayhawks in front of a blue wall.

The Jayhawks

media release: The Jayhawks will release their new album, Sanctuary Park, on August 28 via Thirty Tigers. Produced by Bob Ezrin, Sanctuary Park shows why The Jayhawks remain such an important band after more than four decades. They’ve created music that embodies the enduring spirit and soul of classic American songwriting. Song after song the needle-perfect pop melodies, lush three-part harmonies and thoughtful lyrics reflect their genre-defying, category-busting style that dates back to the band’s pioneering days in post-punk Minneapolis when they foretold today’s Americana movement. Defying the winds of fashion, the band has always stuck to what it does best: write and perform great songs, whether on stage or in the studio.

For Sanctuary Park, The Jayhawks reunited with the legendary Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed), who produced their 2000 album Smile, a “classic,” according to The New York Times. When he heard Gary Louris was seeking a producer Ezrin immediately signed on, and invited the band to his hometown of Toronto to record. “I love their music,” says Ezrin. “There is gentleness and a sweetness to their sound, and I found myself craving a little bit more of that.“

Garden & Gun writes that “the bouncy pop of the lead single [‘Keeping Our Heads Above Water’] leans on the two things the mostly Minnesota band has always done best: singer Gary Louris’s plainspoken melancholy and those gorgeous, honeyed three-part harmonies,” while Steven Hyden says it “waves the flag for The Jayhawks’ enduring alt-country importance.”

The Jayhawks—currently celebrating their 40th year as a band—will be touring throughout the world in the fall of 2026 and spring of 2027 to promote the new album and build upon their already impressive legacy.