The Jayhawks – Back Roads And Abandoned Motels (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:37 minutes | 540 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
Since the outset, the Jayhawks have thrown themselves heart and soul into resurrecting an alternative country music fed on Seventies folk. It’s a rootsy soundtrack which allows itself a few nods at power pop. The concept of Americana was in vogue back in the early 1990s, and the group of Gary Louris and Mark Olson were spearheading it. They were armed with the legacy of Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Tom Petty and even Big Star… some albums and some years later, they were greying a little around the temples but their talent was still intact. In 2016, the album Paging Mr. Proust neatly rejuvenated the group’s genetic makeup. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, Mark Olson quit again, but Louris stood in fantastically as a songwriter. Without Olson, the Jayhawks started showing more of their power-pop side than their folk side. And that tendency was confirmed on Paging Mr. Proust… With Back Roads And Abandoned Motels, Gary Louris hasn’t really brought out a new album. But whatever. With his bandmates, he is offering up two new songs which he has rounded out with compositions written or co-written for old albums by Natalie Maines, the Dixie Chicks, Jakob Dylan, Ari Hest, Scott Thomas, Carrie Rodriguez, the Wild Feathers and Emerson Hart. It’s an odd exercise (the material is a patchwork) but it’s anything but stupid (the quality is very real), and it allows him to perform his own versions with perfect freedom. This is an offering from the Jayhawks which brings us back to their country rock and folk roots. – Marc Zisman
Tracklist:
01. Come Cryin’ to Me 03:40
02. Everybody Knows 04:09
03. Gonna Be a Darkness 04:58
04. Bitter End 04:15
05. Backwards Women 03:36
06. Long Time Ago 03:56
07. Need You Tonight 03:16
08. El Dorado 04:06
09. Bird Never Flies 03:54
10. Carry You to Safety 05:24
11. Leaving Detroit 04:12
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