With: VetiverIf there were any justice in the musical world, Gary Louris would be sitting pretty, making music in a cribs-style home recording studio and going on reunion tours with the Jayhawks to make a few million whenever he needed it. Or, at the very least, he would be playing to better than a less than half-full Somerville Theater, as he did last night. Of course there is not a lot of justice to go around when it comes to those who actually manage to make lucrative careers out of making good music, and Louris will be the first to acknowledge that. Read any interview with him and he seems genuinely perplexed, sad, and bitter that the Jayhawks never really made it big. And rightly so- at their peak the Jayhawks were a great band, basically pioneering the alt-country movement and just on the cusp of blowing up but never quite making it there. Even after Mark Olsen departed, Gary stayed on and continued to put out some solid Jayhawks albums, taking the reformed band in directions far beyond from the original countryish sound.
But the Jayhawks are officially broken up, and it doesn't look like they will be getting back together. Since the break up Louris has done just fine as a producer and songwriter, but luckily he is still making his own music as well.
For the couple hundred dedicated fans there last night, the show, in support of the new album Vagabonds, was excellent. Louris dedicated about half of the show to the new album, and the other half to some of the old Jayhawks favorites along with some Golden Smog songs. I’ve seen the Jayhawks a lot over the years, and as much as I hate to say it, these songs sounded as good as they ever have, maybe even better than they sometimes did with the Jayhawks. Same went for his album- it's taken awhile for it to grow on me, but it completely came together live.
Most of this is owed to Louris- his voice is still in top shape and he is clearly underrated as a guitar player. But a lot of it had to do with the stellar backing band, Vetiver. They opened the show, and then backed up Gary for his set. They reminded me a lot of the Sadies backing up Neko Case- completely solid, and completely unassuming despite being a band that you would want to go see on their own. Their album is streaming at their website, I would highly recommend it.
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