Forty years ago, The Jayhawks emerged from the thriving Twin Cities music scene. which also given birth to acts like Husker Du and the Replacements. They were at the vanguard of early ’90s No Depression/alt-country wave, which largely came out of the Midwest, along with downstate Illinois’s Uncle Tupelo. (Jayhawks front man Gary Louris played with Tupelo’s Jeff Tweedy in the alt-country supergroup Smog.) All these decades later, those other bands have folded (many of their members have moved on to other groups and projects), but The Jayhawks keep going.
At the Lincoln Theatre on Wednesday, they celebrated this milestone anniversary and the release of their latest album, Sanctuary Park, their first in six years.
Of course, no band survives for forty years without going through changes. Founding members Louris and bassist Marc Perlman have been the band’s constants, with quartet filled out by keyboardist Karen Grotberg and drummer Tim O’Reagan. (I’ve often wondered why philosophers keep using the Ship of Theseus to discuss the persistence of identity over time, when rock bands are a real-world example of the issue.) Louris left the Twin Cities and now lives in Canada with his wife, who he married in 2020.
Songs from Sanctuary Park featured prominently in the set, beginning with set opener “Keeping Our Heads Above Water.” “Mr. Lincoln” was a particularly appropriate choice, given the venue. Introducing “Leap of Faith,” Louris said, “I’ve made a lot of mistakes and wrong turns.” After the song, he added, “You do some of your best work after 70.” He dedicated “Always and a Day” to his wife. Introducing “American Midnight,” he said he didn’t want to get political, that he wanted their concerts to be a “safe space,” but he did bemoan how far apart the “two sides” have gotten. “Kingston Girl” is a worthy entry into the catalog of songs about a girl from a place (e.g., “The Galway Girl,” “Glasgow Girl”).
Watch The Jayhawks perform “American Midnight” live for The Current on YouTube:
There were plenty of old favorites in the set, too. Louris described “Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces” as his attempt to “sound like Crowded House.” The arrangement the played of “Settled Down Like Rain” is “our Minor Threat version;” Gary mentioned an early show the two bands played together. He dedicated “Two Angels” to the Grover family. (Louris bantered a fair amount with the audience, which is unusual for a venue this size, and made the show feel more intimate.) It was a meaty, long set that also included “Angelyne,” “Tampa to Tulsa,” “Wichita” (an appropriate song for a band with a name influenced by my birth state of Kansas), “Smile,” “I’d Run Away,” “Haywire,” “Waiting for the Sun,” “Pray for Me,” “Somewhere in Ohio” (the state where I mostly grew up), “All the Right Reasons,” and “Tailspin.” They finished their main set with “Blue,” and, for their encore, they played another new song, “Rowing the Boat,” “Save It for a Rainy Day,” and the sole cover of the evening, Grand Funk Railroad’s “Bad Time.”
The Cactus Blossoms, twin brothers who also hail from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, opened the show with a duo set that spotlighted their gorgeous harmonies. Their set consisted mostly of their originals: “Please Don’t Call Me Crazy,” “Lonely Hearts,” “Hey Baby,” “Every Time I Think About You,” and “Change Your Ways or Die.” They also paid tribute to one of their influences, fellow Midwesterner John Prine, with “Hello In There.”
I’d seen both bands before, and they’ve always put on excellent shows. Wednesday evening was a good as any. Few bands have thrived for as long as The Jayhawks; it’s a hell of an accomplishment that they’re still making great music.
