GARY LOURIS (of The Jayhawks)

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Over the last three decades, singer, songwriter and guitarist Gary Louris has built a deeply compelling body of music whose artistry and integrity has won the loyalty of an international audience and the respect of both critics and his peers. Best known for his seminal work with The Jayhawks, Louris is one of the most acclaimed and popular musicians to come out of Minnesota during the rock era.

After moving to Minneapolis from Ohio during the heyday of the Minnesota punk revolution in the late 1970s, Louris first received widespread notice with roots rockers Safety Last before co-founding the Jayhawks in 1985. Over the course of almost twenty years and seven albums, The Jayhawks rose from local favorites to international prominence, amassing a reputation as one of the most important – and best – American bands of the time. In the early 90s, Louris also helped to launch Golden Smog, a beloved “supergroup” who has released 3 albums since 1995. 

Since The Jayhawks quietly went on hiatus in 2004, Louris has been busier than ever. He’s collaborated with a wide variety of artists (Dixie Chicks, Lucinda Williams and The Saidies to name just three) as a producer, songwriter and musician. He’s also worked with his old Jayhawks partner Mark Olson (who left the band in 1995), joining him for three well received tours and releasing Ready For the Flood in 2009, their first full length studio project together since The Jayhawks. Louris finally released his solo debut, Vagabonds, in 2008, produced by Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes.

Against all odds, the “classic” lineup of the Jayhawks played a handful of live shows in 2008, the first time Olson had played with the band in almost 15 years. 2009 and 2010 saw even more Jayhawks reunion shows as well as the launch of a massive reissue project of virtually the entire Jayhawks catalog, starting with the release of The Jayhawks Anthology in 2009, a multi-disc retrospective/rarities collection. Louris is also currently working on both a new solo project and another album with Olson. And there’s even talk of a possible new Jayhawks record somewhere down the road. 

As he enters his fourth decade as a professional musician, Louris is showing no signs of slowing down. F. Scott Fitzgerald once famously said that “there are no second acts in American lives.” With a full schedule and boundless possibilities on the horizon, Gary Louris is doing his best to prove that old adage wrong. 

[PD Larson, October 2010]