While they’re not using the Jayhawks name on this tour, Olson says in an interview that he and Louris hope to write and record an album later this year. Even more exciting for Jayhawks fans, Olson says he’s interested in rejoining the Jayhawks.
„I’ve asked, basically, to be back in the band,“ Olson says. „I haven’t gotten a yea or a nay, so I’m kind of waiting on that. I don’t mind, really. I’m open.“
Olson was the driving force behind starting the Jayhawks in Minneapolis in the mid-1980s, quickly becoming local favorites for their mix of Gram Parsons-style country and Replacements-style bar band rock. Legend has it that Louris was one of only a few people to show up for one of the group’s early shows, and by the end of the evening, he was part of the band.
The band broke through on a national level with 1991’s „Hollywood Town Hall“ and seemed on the verge of stardom with 1995’s „Tomorrow the Green Grass,“ which yielded a big radio hit with the song „Blue.“
But then Olson walked away.
„I was burnt out,“ Olson says now. „It took me 10 years to recover from the last time. I’m all better now. I lasted about 12 years last time, so hopefully I’ll have more in me this time.“
While Louris kept the Jayhawks going, Olson said he stayed off the road for two years after leaving the group. He bought a house with his wife, singer-songwriter Victoria Williams, in Joshua Tree, Calif.
But since then, Olson has been busy, touring and recording with his wife and their band, the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers. He said that experience has rekindled his troubadour spirit, so much so that when he came off a recent Creekdippers tour of Europe, he started getting antsy.
„I’ve been touring a lot, and I found out that I was more comfortable in a hotel than I was at home,“ he says. „So I called the manager, and I said, ‚Hey, would Gary be interested in doing something?‘ Or he called me or something happened. But we’re touring now together, and we’re into it.“
Olson says the set list will range far and wide, including not just classic Olson-Louris Jayhawks songs but Jayhawks songs recorded after Olson left the band.
„I’ve never had so much fun as I’ve had the past couple of days playing,“ he says. „It’s just a big mix of material. We’re doing Creekdippers songs. We’re doing new Jayhawks songs. We’re doing the old Jayhawks songs. We’re doing songs that we wrote a long time ago and never got around to recording.“
One of the things Olson is enjoying about the new tour is that he’s playing bass guitar again. He originally played upright bass in Minneapolis, but switched to guitar for the Jayhawks.
„You lead the band,“ Olson says of playing bass. „You’re in charge of the rhythm. You’re in charge of the drive of the band, but it’s also melodic. The acoustic guitar, with a rock band, A, you can’t be heard, and B, the guy running the sound board has only heard electric guitars for the past week.“
The Madison show will be particularly special for Olson, since he says he’s spent some time in Dane County in the past year.
But not as a musician. He recently took some classes at the Howard Academy for the Metal Arts in Stoughton to learn how to make jewelry out of rocks he finds around his home.
„I started out collecting all these rocks in the desert, and I just wanted to take it to its logical conclusion,“ he says. „I really learned a lot. I’m going back there and going to ask them to come down to the show. I used to joke that I’m going to make more money selling rocks than I ever made playing music.“
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Es gibt ein Ziel, aber keinen Weg; was wir Weg nennen, ist Zögern. (Kafka)