BLURTING WITH… MARK OLSON
Apr 23, 2009
The alt-country godfather gets back together with his old Jayhawks partner Gary Louris.
BY AARON KAYCE
When Mark Olson and Gary Louris led famed alt-country outfit the Jayhawks, it was their earthy songwriting and interlocking harmonies that defined the group's sound. In 1995, Olson left the band to spend more time with wife Victoria Williams, causing fans to wonder if they'd lost the dynamic duo forever. The two kept in loose touch and worked together on a film score in 2001, which sparked the fire for future collaborations. In 2006, struggling after his divorce from Williams, Olson set off to find Louris in Minnesota. They spent their days in Louris' garage effortlessly piecing together songs that would become Ready For the Flood.
Finding the perfect creative foil to produce the album, they enlisted old friend and ex-touring partner Chris Robinson. This is the album Olson and Louris have always longed to make and it welcomes one of the strongest partnerships in music back to the limelight. In a recent interview with BLURT, Olson allowed his Midwestern charm to permeate our discussion about the past, present and future of the Mark Olson & Gary Louris relationship.
BLURT: When you left the Jayhawks it was assumed there was some tension, was that difficult to overcome when you came back together with Gary?
OLSON: I don't really think about that too much now, but at the time, yes I'm sure there was tension. But it was more in the line of, I'd been in the band a long time and thought there might be a different kind of life for me. So what I basically did was play different instruments in different kinds of music.
Is this a continuation of where you left off with the Jayhawks, or is this something that seems different to you?
It was always something that was brewing in a way. Even when we made the records I was on, there was always feelings coming from Gary and from me that we really wanted to have an acoustic song on those records, but it just wasn't in the cards. And we'd always listened to acoustic music and liked the combination of band and acoustic; not so much straight ahead folk stuff, but experimenting with that, different chords, different grooves, weird harmonies, weird lyrics. We'd both been into that for many years and this was the first chance to try to put it on an album that way. Nobody was telling us what to do at this point. And Chris [Robinson] was very versed in British folk so we just went for it. And this is so strange, but this was the first time we sang together in the studio and we kept all the live singing tracks, there wasn't any overdubbing on the vocals.
How did you guys get Chris involved to produce the record?
We toured with them [The Black Crowes] and there was something different about them; they were like these Southern Gentlemen in a strange way. You wouldn't think so with these "crazy rockers," but they had manners and they kind of impressed us. They went out of their way to do things to make us feel welcome and to talk to us and invite us bowling and that always stuck with us. And I think Gary kept up with Chris, I actually got together with Marc Ford a couple times over the years, and they were all decent guys. And I was aware how much he [Chris] listened to music and how much he knew about music and I really thought it would be a good idea to work with him and it worked out great. He's a very encouraging guy and he takes it very seriously.
In terms of lyrical themes where do you tend to draw inspiration?
I think some of the stuff has always been clued in on Midwestern society, just the way people relate to each other. I certainly haven't moved in the way I think about the world, that's still how I grew up. And the music you listen to really influences you and I think we've listened to a lot of Band and early country stuff that had stories that were mysterious in a way, and I think that influenced us on the lyrical level. We wanted to tell an interesting story that left you hangin'.
Do you have any thoughts about the future; will there be another album with Gary?
That's all to be determined, but I'm really interested in making another record. I sat around listening to this record this past week because I've been getting ready to do it [live] and I've been relearning some songs and getting the beats down, and I really really like it. It's a challenge and that's what I like about music in general, anytime you go in it's a challenge to get something you really like and have it sound good down the road; and this is one of them.
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