Sunday, October 16, 2011

Return of the Jayhawks

A friend of mine says the new Jayhawks record is the best thing she's heard in years. Will look into that and report back.

But for now, enjoy this recent interview.
In 2000, The New York Times ran a story on The Jayhawks with the headline, "What If You Made a Classic and No One Cared?" — a reference to the band's unsung sixth album, Smile, as well as its failure thus far to break big in the pop world. Louris says that flying under the radar frustrated him at the time, but has proved to have an upside.

"I certainly wanted to be bigger; I think Mark just wanted to be good. That shows you how shallow I am," Louris jokes. "[But] the fact that we were never part of any particular scene, or had the one big radio hit or whatever, has kind of worked to our advantage. We have that thing called longevity going for us."


4 comments:

steve simels said...

Well, that song certainly pushes all my buttons. If the rest of the album is as beautiful...

The Phantom Creep said...

A little poppier than the Byrds ever were, but the harmonies are equally exquisite.

Phillydog said...

My 2c. The new one isn't the gem that "Rainy Day Music" is. That said, nobody makes a diamond every time & I'll have an average Jayhawks record any day over most of the processed crap foisted onto the public as music anymore. Jus' sayin'.

Anonymous said...

Steve, got some music I want to send you, namely a previously unrlreased album from 1977 that I've just released on my Grown Up Wrong! label by the Hot Knives, featuring Danny Mihm and Tim Lynch of the Flamin Groovies. Drop me a line at David.Laing@fusegroupaustralia.com with your mailing address and I'll send you a copy. Love your blog!
Dave