THE JAYHAWKS : BACK ROADS AND ABANDONED MOTELS

1. Come Cryin' To Me
2. Everybody Knows
3. Gonna Be A Darkness
4. Bitter End
5. Backwards Women
6. Long Time Ago
7. Need You Tonight
8. El Dorado
9. Bird Never Flies
10. Carry You To Safety
11. Leaving Detroit

Label : Legacy

Release Date : July 13, 2018

Length : 45:37

Review (AllMusic) : Back Roads and Abandoned Motels is an album by the Jayhawks featuring a set of songs written by the group's guitarist, singer, and frontman, Gary Louris...except they're not exactly Jayhawks songs. When he's not busy with the band, Louris has a sideline collaborating on tunes with other writers for other artists, and it's that body of work that the Jayhawks tackle on this album. Nine of Back Roads and Abandoned Motels' 11 tracks are numbers he wrote in tandem with members of the Dixie Chicks ("Everybody Knows," "Bitter End," and "Come Cryin' to Me"), Jakob Dylan ("Gonna Be a Darkness"), Scott Thomas ("Need You Tonight"), Carrie Rodriguez ("El Dorado"), Ari Hest ("Bird Never Flies"), Emerson Hart of Tonic ("Long Time Ago"), and the members of Wild Feathers ("Backwards Women"). One of the consequences of this is though these songs all carry a bit of Louris' lyrical and melodic stamp, they also have a somewhat different personality than much of his music, and that gives this album a slightly cooler and less cohesive feel than the average Jayhawks LP. ("Carry You to Safety" and "Leaving Detroit," which Louris wrote on his own, fit a bit more easily.) Louris also hands two lead vocals over to keyboard player Karen Grotberg ("Come Cryin' to Me," where she's a dead ringer for Aimee Mann, and "El Dorado"), while drummer Tim O'Reagan steps to the mike for "Gonna Be a Darkness" and "Long Time Ago." Having established what sets this apart from a common, garden-variety Jayhawks set, the big question is, is Back Roads and Abandoned Motels any good? The answer is a decisive yes -- despite the shifting outlook of the songwriting, the performances are sturdy and evocative throughout, revealing how well these musicians work with one another as they make the most of the dynamics of this subtle but resonant music. And vocalists Louris, Grotberg, and O'Reagan are all in superb form here, hitting their marks beautifully. In fact, after the experimentalism of 2016's Paging Mr. Proust, Back Roads and Abandoned Motels will certainly please more traditional-minded Jayhawks fans, as it often recalls the low-key pleasures of 2003's Rainy Day Music. The best songs on Back Roads and Abandoned Motels are a lovely reminder of what the Jayhawks have been doing so well for over 30 years, and if this album might make one wonder if Gary Louris is running low on songwriting ideas, he still leads a band to be reckoned with.

Review (Wikipedia) : Back Roads and Abandoned Motels is the tenth studio album by the alt country band The Jayhawks, released on July 13, 2018. Along with two new songs written by Gary Louris, the album mainly features songs co-written by Louris for previous projects. They include "Come Cryin' to Me" (Natalie Maines' album Mother); "Everybody Knows" and "Bitter End" (Dixie Chicks' album Taking the Long Way); "Gonna Be a Darkness" (Jakob Dylan); "Bird Never Flies" (Ari Hest); "Need You Tonight" (Scott Thomas); "El Dorado" (Carrie Rodriguez); "Backwards Women" (The Wild Feathers) and "Long Time Ago" (Emerson Hart). "These [songs] did not feel like covers," Louris said. "These songs all felt like they were in our wheelhouse." In his review for Allmusic, critic Mark Deming wrote the album "finds Louris and his bandmates mixing up their formula, introducing new edges and angles to the group's evocative, lonesome Midwestern sound." and "this album demonstrates that Louris still knows how to make a memorable album as the group's sole leader."[4] PopMatters called the album "a triumph" and "All of the classic signifiers of a Jayhawks album are here—the sublime harmonies, the folk-rock jangle, the wry takes on relationships, and an eye always tuned to the impermanence of things—but with Karen Grotberg and Tim O'Reagan each taking lead on two of the album's cuts, the band plays with a looser confidence than they've previously captured in the studio."

Review (Blues Magazine) : De altcountry band The Jayhawks uit Minneapolis draait alweer drieëndertig jaar mee in de muziekbusiness. Op zich best een wonder als je bedenkt dat er aardig wat gedoe is geweest in de band. Respectievelijk tussen oprichters Gary Louris (elektrische gitaar en zang) en Mark Olson (akoestische gitaar en zang). Twee kapiteins op een schip bleek uiteindelijk niet mogelijk. Alle nummers op het titelloze debuut uit 1985, later opnieuw uitgebracht als ‘Blue Earth’ in 1989, werden geschreven door Olson. Op de tweede plaat, ‘Hollywood Town Hall’ (1992), kreeg ook Louris een vinger in de pap en schreef mee aan de teksten. Dat, evenals de samenzang tussen hem en Olson, zorgde voor de definitieve doorbraak van The Jayhawks. Het derde album ‘Tomorrow The Green Grass’ uit 1995 verkocht echter niet zoals verwacht en Mark Olson verliet nog dat jaar de band. Volgens fans het einde van The Jayhawks aangezien hij veel van de songs schreef en de samenzang met Gary Louris een deel van de aantrekkingskracht was. Toch toert de band sindsdien nog steeds met grote regelmaat en brengt verschillende cd’s uit. In de winter van 2005 en de zomer van 2006 deed Olson twee korte toers met Louris en namen de heren in 2008 samen het album ‘Ready For The Flood’ op. In 2011 voegde hij zich wederom bij The Jayhawks, nam met hen de plaat ‘Mockingbird Time’ op en deed nog één toer voor hij opnieuw de band verliet. In 2016 bracht de band ‘Paging Mr. Proust‘ uit en stond dat jaar onder andere op het TakeRoot festival in de Oosterpoort in Groningen. Inmiddels is het tiende studioalbum ‘Back Roads And Abandoned Motels’ een feit. Hierop staan liedjes die Gary Louris door de jaren heen schreef voor andere artiesten. Hij bewerkte de songs, stopte ze in een Jayhawks jasje en nam ze samen met de band en de artiest aan wie hij het liedje ooit gaf, opnieuw op. Zo komen onder andere de liedjes Everybody Knows en Bitter End, bekend geworden door de Dixie Chicks, aan bod. Ook het bekende El Dorado, gebruikt door Carrie Rodriguez en Gonna Be A Darkness, gezongen door Jakob Dylan (de zoon van) hebben hun plekje op het album veroverd. Stuk voor stuk mooie uitvoeringen van talentvolle muzikanten, maar toch wel het allermooist van de groep waarbij deze nummers echt thuis horen. Het klopt als een bus. Het is intens, melancholisch, puur en echt. Zowel de muziek als de zang komt direct binnen en laat je niet meer los. ‘Back Roads And Abandonded Motels’ is een echt Jayhawks album en misschien wel één van de betere uit het repertoire van de band. Het is er eentje om door een ringetje te halen. Het verrassende is dat de laatste twee songs nieuw zijn. Het wachten is dus nu op een plaat met uitsluitend nieuw werk.

Review (Pop Matters) : We’re enjoying a particularly busy and productive period for the Jayhawks: The band has collaborated with Ray Davies on his two Americana albums, and Back Roads and Abandoned Motels marks the first time since the middle 1990s that we’ve had two proper Jayhawks releases in the space of three years. 2016’s Paging Mr. Proust offered some surprises as Gary Louris experimented with harder-edged songs and a lyrical directness that allowed him to vent sincere anger and frustration with a directness he’d previously obscured. Back Roads and Abandoned Motels might be an even sharper departure from the Jayhawks’ business as usual: it presents a collection of songs Louris has written with and for others, now recorded by the band. The exercise in sharing the songwriter’s spotlight seems to have inspired Louris to open things up a bit. Where Mr. Proust was guided solely by Louris’ explorations, Back Roads might just be the most collaborative album the band has released, with Louris even stepping back from the microphone to share lead vocals with his bandmates. That is not to infer that Louris has been some sort of Billy Corgan-like control freak, but the Jayhawks have long been defined by the twists and turns of Louris’ artistic vision, and it is his voice that dominates the band’s history. He would be completely justified in maintaining that status quo; that he is demonstrating such democratic flexibility 30 years into the band’s career is a measure of his commitment to maintaining relevance and a creative spark. In fact, speaking of the Jayhawks’ future with Jedd Beaudoin, Louris emphasizes the importance of change and growth for the band, “I think the goal is to get more of a democracy, more involvement from everybody, get them writing a little bit more. Have me take a step back a bit and quit hogging the spotlight so much…. I’d like them all to kind of step up and I want to see what it feels like.” We see the benefits of this philosophy throughout Back Roads and Abandoned Motels. All of the classic signifiers of a Jayhawks album are here — the sublime harmonies, the folk-rock jangle, the wry takes on relationships, and an eye always tuned to the impermanence of things — but with Karen Grotberg and Tim O’Reagan each taking lead on two of the album’s cuts, the band plays with a looser confidence than they’ve previously captured in the studio. Most of these songs have been heard in their original recordings. Album opener, “Come Cying to Me”, sung by Grotberg, was written with Natalie Maines and appeared on her solo debut Mother. Two other songs here were co-written with Maines and her Dixie Chicks partners and released by that band. The stellar “Everybody Knows” portrays the paranoia and disconnect between one’s public and private persona, sung from the troubled, ironic perspective of someone who seeks the spotlight. The song is effective as a reflection upon the challenges Maines faced following her controversial remarks about George W. Bush or, equally but on a smaller scale, as regarding the daily struggles any of us face in these uncertain times where we often find ourselves wearing different faces in different crowds. The closing refrain of “Everybody knows I’m just barely getting by” is one that countless listeners can probably identify with. The other, “Bitter End” sounds infused with some of the passion of Louris’ fractured relationship with former bandmate Mark Olsen, though Maines, Maguire, and Robinson no doubt bring their own road-worn experiences to this melancholy reflection on the musician’s life. Other highlights include “Bird Never Flies”, co-written with New York songwriter Ari Hest, and the barrelhouse ballad “Backwards Women”, written with members of the Wild Feathers but not previously recorded. It’s a mystery why that band chose not to do the song; it’s a great driving with the windows down summer tune about the joys of hanging on the wrong side of the tracks with the wrong kind of people. “Need You Tonight” was written with Kristen Hall and Scott Thomas and features one of Louris’ trademarks: crafting dreamy harmonies that mask the bitter medicine of lessons learned from broken relationships. This is one of those, though the relationship here described isn’t fully broken, just terminally cracked. Equally deceptive in its harmonic beauty is the Jakob Dylan collaboration “Gonna Be a Darkness”, a gut-wrenching song of mortality that exposes a soul-erasing doubt amidst the politeness and pleasantries of the funeral experience. The album closes with two Louris originals, including “Carry You to Safety”, a sincere and uncomplicated love song, proof that for all of the darkness he sees in this world, Louris remains in search of light. Still finding new ways to refine and expand a beloved sound, Back Roads and Abandoned Motels is, start to finish, the Jayhawks’ most enjoyable record since Rainy Day Music.