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The Jayhawks

House Of Blues January 20th, 2001

Letter From LA (Record Collectors (Japan)

The Jayhawks seem to exist against all conventional odds. After 15
years and several label changes, and more importantly, two seemingly devastating
personnel changes, the band continues to be purveyors of some of the
finest roots-oriented rock & roll that America has to offer. It¹s all about playing
music for the music's sake, and this strength of virtue and a sense of survival
is illustrated brilliantly by The Jayhawks.

Those reasons made it even more delightful to realize that this mid-winter
show at The House Of Blues in Hollywood was, in fact, sold-out. I really didn¹t
expect a capacity crowd there, but it sure was nice to know that the band has
such a strong Los Angeles following. This may, in fact, be partially due to the
band's influences, of which Gene Clark, Gram Parsons and Neil Young (all
artists who found their greatest fame in LA) are the strongest.
After the sprightly opening song, ("I'd Run Away" from the Tomorrow The
Green Grass album), the band followed with several intricate ballad
statements such as "What Led Me To This Town" and "Two Hearts", which
allowed the vocalists to fine-tune their chops for the long set to follow. The
interweaving voices of Gary Louris, Tim O'Reagan and new
keyboardist/vocalist, Jen Gunderman got better with each verse, and it
showed the ensemble capable of some marvelously adventurous harmony
arrangements.

The band picked up some energy with a great cover of "Lost My Drivin'
Wheel", which first appeared on an early Roger McGuinn solo album. This
was sung masterfully by drummer Tim O'Reagan, whom is somewhat in the
shadow of Gary Louris as a lead singer, but does a magnificent job. The
dual-electric guitar interplay of Louris and Kraig Johnson was positively
striking on this one, particularly Johnson's Clarence White-inspired
Telecaster ŒB-bender' riffing.

Clearly warmed up instrumentally and vocally, the band dived into
devastating versions of "Real Light", "Queen Of The World" and
"Somewhere In Ohio", the last two from the great new Smile album. Gary
Louris' Neil Young by-way-of Roger McGuinn guitar playing and his
emotional vocals reached a certain peak here, proving that he's one of the
finest singer-guitarists in America today. Other songs such as "Big Star" and
"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", which featured a new and exquisite
harmonica-driven arrangement - continued this emotional peak of the show.
Marc Perlman, the bass guitarist, surely must be the secret master of the
group, and his simple yet innovative playing was the backbone of these
songs, and the band's overall drive.

The encores provided a sort of mini-set that was extremely gratifying. One of
the band's best-known songs, "Blue" (which was a minor American hit in
1995) was rendered with a slightly simplified arrangement. Jen Gunderman¹s
piano and harmony vocals added just the right degree of elegance to this
modern classic, and coupled with the band's restrained but powerful
performance provided one of the show's peak moments. An incredible cover
of Eric Carmen's pop classic "All By Myself" may have been Louris¹ finest
vocal moments of the evening, but the best was yet to come. Neil Young's
"Winterlong", an extremely rare early Crazy Horse staple gave Louris a
chance to show off his Neil Young-inspired electric guitar work, and the
inclusion of this song sort of helped define the band's overall motivation.
With a wealth of incredible self-penned material, The Jayhawks chose to
play this fabulous and rarely heard song at an all-important Œindustry town
gig. Once again, the band plays music for music's sake, and on their own terms.

The final song was an extended meltdown of "Baby, Baby, Baby", the closing
track from Smile. A multi-leveled exploration of feelings following the
disintegration of a relationship, this may indeed be one of their finest songs.
Filled with drama, pathos and an electric guitar battle that hasn't been
executed this well since the glory days of Moby Grape and Crosby, Stills, Nash
& Young, it was an emotional and musical catharsis that was rendered with
reckless abandon by the group. Needless to say, it left many of the audience
exiting the show with their mouths wide open. It was that good.

The opening act was worth noting. Neko Case is a marvelously gifted and
powerful country singer. Although her band seemed a bit out of sorts at
times, there is certainly good reason to keep an eye on her career and
releases. You can find information about her through her record label¹s
website: http://bloodshotrecords.com

I'm not sure if The Jayhawks have ever toured or will tour in Japan, but for
your sake, I certainly hope they do. Currently, their US releases are on
Sony/American recordings, and you can visit them at: http://thejayhawks.com .

©2001 M. Greenwald

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