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THE JAYHAWKS : SANCTUARY PARK
- Keeping Our Heads Above Water
- Kingston Girl
- Mr. Lincoln
- Hands Upon The Wheel
- Leap Of Faith
- American Midnight
- Always And A Day
- Sanctuary Park
- Familiar Strangers
- It'll Be All Right Tonight
- Rowing The Boat
Label : Sham Records (distributed by Thirty Tigers)
Length : 41:00
Release Date : August 28, 2026
Review (Americana Highways) : I didn’t have time to write this review. But when I looked on the Americana Highways “to be reviewed” spreadsheet and saw the Jayhawks were releasing Sanctuary Park on Aug. 28, I signed up anyway. I made time. And I’m glad I did. I’ve been blown away with each listen. It’s a hell of a way for the band to celebrate its 40th anniversary – by putting out arguably its best album yet. At first you think, “what is this…?” It’s so happy. It kind of takes you aback. The first track, “Keeping Our Heads Above Water,” is as joyous as the Jayhawks gets, with happy harmonies and a melody with a skip in its step. It’s the kind of song that lightens you no matter where you are or what you’re doing while it’s on — the story does that on its own, and the arrangements couldn’t be better: the piano, the bass, the build on the pre-chorus, the irresistible chorus: “keeping our heads above water, trying to learn how to swim, saying you’re all I got just to breathe again.” “Keeping Our Heads Above Water” brings you back to those innocent teen years, and how free and ignorant we were. And the band’s trademark three-part harmonies, plus the musical magic by Karen Grotberg (keys), Tim O’Reagan (drums), Marc Perlman (bass) really put you there. The Jayhawks are just as chipper on “Kingston Girl,” bringing us a love story that’s not as innocent. We’ve been there — betting everything on someone when the whole world seems set against you, holding on through circumstances trying to pull you apart: “they clipped our wings and without them we learned to fly.” “Mr Lincoln” is the album’s most poignant and potent moment, and, I believe, one of the best songs of the year. The tune sounds like it was written by Robbie Robertson, and performed by Crosby, Stills and Nash (actually several songs on this album seem to have that influence, with a little Young, too). I stopped what I was doing when I first heard it and started it over. Jayhawk vocalist and guitarist Gary Louris wrote this with Emerson Hart of Tonic, and it may be the best lyrical work either of them have done. It tells the story of our fractured nation, then and now, from a new, unique lens: the perspective of a musician in the orchestra pit of Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on the night of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed) reunited with the Jayhawks, collaborating with them for the first time since 2000’s “Smile.” He brought the band out to his hometown of Toronto, craving the gentleness and sweetness he’s always loved about their sound. That sweetness is the key ingredient of “Sanctuary Park.” “Hands Upon the Wheel” is hopeful and haunting, the intro giving you chills as the Jayhawk signature three-part harmony goes a capella. Hearing it again after so many years honestly did bring me back to some magical times, like the first time I heard “Blue” from “Tomorrow the Green Grass.” “Leap of Faith” is a remarkably cheerful song about facing mortality. It’s a celebration: kind, endearing, even optimistic, with playful harmonica and tasteful melodies. What’s most interesting about it is the lyrics are downright Bukowskian, yet somehow they don’t fill you with despair. There’s a message of perseverance, a message that – even when hitting bottom – you can still get back up. There’s a bit of zydeco here, too, which really gives the listener the impression things are going to be alright. “American Midnight” is reminiscent of R.E.M. a bit, but is also perhaps the most signature Jayhawks tune on the album, with a riff that’s classic, upbeat Jayhawks. It’s a beautiful contrast, like Motown – only the heartbreak is societal. They’re singing about the state of the world, and are genuinely concerned, but the tune makes you feel like dancing, the tone still warm, harmonies invoking peace, not pain. The title track has some grit to it, a bluesy sound a little reminiscent of Tim Buckley and “Cortez the Killer” era Neil Young. It’s funky, the bass really gets into your bones. It’s also the closest the record comes to explaining itself: Sanctuary Park is a real spot in Dundas, Ontario, but on this album it becomes something bigger, a stand-in for whatever place memory keeps sacred — first loves, teenage secrets, the people who knew you before you became whoever you are now. “Always and a Day” is where the band lets loose a little — a chiming 60s rock feel, like the Byrds channeling the Rolling Stones, all momentum and highway and a refusal to let go. “Familiar Strangers” pulls back down to earth, a barroom toast to old friends who feel both close and distant at once, the kind of night where cheap wine in a parking lot means more than the good stuff ever could. It’s mellow but still drives, and you feel like you’re there with them. “It’ll Be Alright Tonight” is pure reassurance — a guy owning his bad decisions and betting on the relationship anyway, the chorus repeating like he’s convincing himself as much as anyone else. Mike Johnson’s pedal steel is heavy in the mix here, really driving it home, and the whole thing lands as a reminder of the band’s sweetness — quintessential Jayhawks. To close — after the ghosts and the highways and a nation’s midnight — the record doesn’t try to leave you with a lesson. “Rowing the Boat” strips everything back to something close to a children’s song, simple language, simple melody, no big statement. It just asks you to come along and stay in the boat, to enjoy the experience — the experience of life. Easier said than done, I know, but every day we have that opportunity to take that leap of faith, and “Sanctuary Park” can help get us there. After 40 years, Gary Louris keeps taking that leap himself — chief songwriter, lead vocalist, the guy anchoring those three-part harmonies since day one, still finding new hope to land on. “Sanctuary Park” will soon be out in all places you stream music. It was produced and mixed by Bob Ezrin (with Brian Moncarz) at Canterbury Music Company in Toronto and mastered by Robert Vosgien — the same gentleness and sweetness Ezrin chased 25 years ago on “Smile,” now sounding less like nostalgia and more like a lifeline. Highlights: “Mr. Lincoln,” “Keeping Our Heads Above Water,” “Rowing the Boat.”
Review (At The Barrier) : The Jayhawks return with their first album in six years – just in time to celebrate their 40th Anniversary. Sanctuary Park is frontman Gary Louris’s paean to his wife, Stephanie and to the Canadian environment that shaped her. The timing couldn’t be better. Just as US alt. country stalwarts The Jayhawks prepare to celebrate their 40th anniversary, up they pop with their first new album in six years. A number of significant changes have been rung whilst The Jayhawks have been away. First, and foremost, frontman/mainstay and founding member Gary Louris married his Canadian wife, Stephanie shortly after 2020 album, XOXO, hit the racks. It’s fair to say that the impact of that union resonates throughout Sanctuary Park in every possible way: from the album’s title, to the place in which it was recorded; from the team responsible for the recording, to the subject matter of many of the songs. I’ll elaborate… Sanctuary Park is an album with a sense of place. The album was recorded in Canada. Producer Bob Ezrin is, of course, Canadian and so are his team of recording engineers. Gary Louris is now also a Canadian citizen, having taken that status after he married Stephanie and the songs on Sanctuary Park are riddled with Canada-specific references. Most predominantly, Sanctuary Park is a paean to Stephanie, the environment that shaped and the special place she occupies in Gary’s affections. The relationship between The Jayhawks and producer Bob Ezrin is a long-standing one. Famed for his work with Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel and, especially, Pink Floyd, Ezrin was also the producer of the Jayhawks’ classic 2000 album, Smile. When he heard that the Jayhawks were seeking a producer for their new album, Ezrin immediately volunteered and invited the band to his Toronto studio. “I love their music,” he says. “There is a gentleness and a sweetness to their sound, and I found myself craving a little more of that.” The eleven songs that constitute Sanctuary Park are all penned by Louris and, in doing so, he made a conscious decision to highlight the band’s key strengths. These include their signature three-part vocal harmonies and the: “…intuitive interplay between Louris, keyboard player Karen Grotberg, drummer Tim O’Reagan and bassist Marc Perlman.” “Get us in a room together and there’s no-one better,” says Louris. “We have a certain musical magic that happens without even a word or a discussion.” It’s lead single, Keeping Our Heads Above Water that gets Sanctuary Park up and running. It’s a tasty slice of easy-going Americana and the signature harmonies are present and oh-so-correct from the very get-go. The backing is a tasteful menage of strummed guitars and vibrant piano; a song that it’s impossible to dislike. The first of several dedications from Gary to wife Stephanie, Kingston Girl documents the blossoming of the pair’s relationship and how they: “…battled the odds of distance and COVID to build a life together.” Gary makes lyrical references to Saskatoon, Kingston, Lake Louise and more and, taking the Canadian references even further, there’s even a hint of Neil Young in his voice as he sings: “I put my money on a Kingston girl – just the two of us, baby, versus the world.” The guitars are clear and heavy, Karen’s piano provides the propulsion and guest Todd Lumley applies the final touches with his splashes of accordion. A co-write with friend Emerson Hart, Mr Lincoln is Gary’s version of the events in Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC on the night of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. It’s a song with a Beatle-ish flavour; indeed, it could almost be mistaken for a lost John Lennon song from the Abbey Road sessions. It’s bouncy and it’s poppy, with bass and piano dominant – and the vocal harmonies are, once again, pristine. With lines like: “I don’t care what people say, if they don’t like us, they can look the other way. We’ll go walking arm-in-arm, we don’t mean nobody harm,” Gary expresses the power that his relationship with Stephanie confers upon them both. This time, it’s Harry Chapin that comes to mind as the band deliver the wistful tune and Mike Johnson cements the ‘world-be-damned’ attitude with some delightful pedal steel licks. Described as “A song about taking risks despite past failures,” Leap Of Faith takes the mood in a boozy, folky direction. Todd Lumley’s accordion sits alongside Karen’s piano and the spirit of Garth Hudson and The Band (yet another Canadian connection…) comes immediately to mind. There might be a dark edge to Gary’s lyrics, but the tune is a joyful one – it’s a foot-tapping earworm. American Midnight, the second of the two singles to preview Sanctuary Park, is a fast-moving rocker, built around a recurrent guitar riff. Tight and freewheeling, it’s surely destined to become a centrepiece of The Jayhawks imminent European tour dates. On an album packed with passionate pleas to wife Stephanie, it is, perhaps, with Always And A Day that Gary expresses his emotions in their rawest form. Speaking of his lyrics – and of their delivery – Gary says: “I am singing from the heart… My absolute love and devotion to my wife, Steph. We are inseparable and when I say I need you by my side, I mean it.” The song is another fast-paced rocker, with a sincere, soulful, undercurrent. Howls of harmonica punctuate the gaps between the verses and Gary’s guitar solo (which he rates as his favourite on the album) is a scorcher. And there’s more blazing guitar soloing to enjoy on the album’s title track – Bob Ezrin reckons that Gary’s playing on this one reminded him of Dave Gilmour – a compliment indeed. The song’s (and the album’s) title is a reference to the district of Dundas, Ontario where Stephanie was raised and, with lyrics like: “I wish I had known you, our paths had crossed back then – I would have been your first lover, more than merely friends,” Gary gets right to the heart of the matter. There’s more reminiscences to come, as Gary steps back to his own schooldays for Familiar Strangers, a song inspired by a thread of emails that Gary received from some former classmates. Nostalgia is the emotion that pervades Gary’s vocal tones, as he sings of “[Drinking] church wine in the parking lot.” Behind him, the band are as solid and reliable as ever and the backing vocals are, as always, as clean as a whistle. Mike Johnson returns with his pedal steel to add a special country sparkle to It’ll Be Alright Tonight. “With fingers crossed, a captive audience was held. Entranced by our first dance, all my defences fell,” sings Gary as he relives the blissful memories of his life with Stephanie. The vocal harmonies are as gentle as Gary’s lyrics and, when Gary’s guitar interweaves with Mike’s pedal steel, the picture of perfection is complete. And this welcome, long-overdue album is brought to a sentimental close with Rowing The Boat, ostensibly a children’s song, with lyrics that encourage us all to embrace our differences. Gary plays a nice ragtime guitar figure, his vocals are as gentle as the song’s lyrics and, for one final time, the harmonies are crystal clear. “It felt like the perfect album closer,” said Gary. He wasn’t wrong… And more good news: The Jayhawks will be arriving in Europe this September for shows in Scandinavia, Belgium, the Netherlands and UK dates in Brighton, London, Manchester and Glasgow. Full details of their itinerary (which also includes shows in North America) can be found here.
Review (RIFF Magazine) : Twenty-six years later, as the Jayhawks celebrate their 40th anniversary, the band teams up with Ezrin once more. And if Sanctuary Park is notably less adventurous than Smile, it’s just as successful, doubling down on the band’s tried-and-true formula of recent years. Lyrics covering a broad range of emotions or concepts, usually supported by music with a comfortable, melodious exuberance, now carry the day. The band covers love, breaking away, putting one foot in front of the other and helping one another do the same. “There is a gentleness and a sweetness to their sound, and I found myself craving a little more of that,” Ezrin has said.about working with the Jayhawks now. The band’s previous album, 2020’s XOXO, reveled in its variety of songwriters and lead singers. All four band members had both solo and collaborative songwriting credits, and each took at least one lead vocal. It made for one of the most wide-ranging albums in the Jayhawks’ long career. It’s different this time. Gary Louris wrote (or co-wrote) all 11 songs here, and sings lead on 10 of them. And while listeners this time around don’t get to hear whether drummer Tim O’Reagan or keyboardist Karen Grotberg would continue their growth trajectories (O’Reagan’s “Dogtown Days” and “Society Pages” were especially revelatory), they do get a bigger dose of Louris, whose body of work over four decades remains under-appreciated. And what Sanctuary Park lacks in sheer variety, it more than compensates with a group of Louris songs playing to his strengths. Single “Keeping Our Heads Above Water” is a perfect example, its catchy, hummable music more upbeat than the resignation of its lyrics touting “taking all that you have to believe again.”
Review (Glide Magazine) : Forty years on, The Jayhawks remain true to their trusted sound. Their lush and patented three-part harmonies and thoughtful, imagery-filled lyrics never go out of style. Their 12th studio album, Sanctuary Park (Thirty Tigers), is a balm for these times. They capture the innocence of teenage years, reflecting from the perspective of adulthood. The opening track, “Keeping Our Heads Above Water,” begins with the line, “under the football lights,” immediately putting the listener in a nostalgic frame of mind. Yet, the upbeat music obscures the theme of resignation heard at the end, “taking all that you have to believe again.” The album’s most riveting track, “Hands on the Wheel,” begins this way in a cappella harmonies, ‘We’ll steal your daddy’s car/Roll down the window and ride on the breeze/We’ll live on what we got/”Cos what we got is all we need.” These lyrics hark to the innocence and boldness of youth, similar to Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” vibe without the machismo. For Sanctuary Park, The Jayhawks reunited with producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed), who produced their classic 2000 album Smile. Principal songwriter Gary Louris, married to a Canadian, now lives in Toronto and brought the band (Marc Perlman – bass, mandolin; Karen Grotberg – keyboards, vocals; and Tim O’Reagan – drums, percussion, vocals) there to record. Other contributors are Todd Lundley – accordion and harmonium, Mike Johnson – pedal steel, and Ezrin – ukulele; all on select tracks. They deliver purely accessible, poppy, uplifting singalong music throughout their superbly crafted eleven songs. That has not changed since their inception in 1985, when they emerged from the post-punk days in Minneapolis to form this enduring sound. And they’ve smartly avoided prolific output, building anticipation for each release. The album flows as smoothly as a steady river current, never bumpy or interruptive, unlike Ezrin’s experimentation that marked Smile, or 2020’s previous, XOXO, which featured all four principals writing songs and taking lead vocals. Here, Louris penned or co-wrote all eleven tunes and sings lead on ten of them. The buoyant “Fingston Girl” follows the opener, highlighting the magical harmonizing of Louris, O’Reagan, and Grotberg. This album rests on the strengths of the melodies and harmonies. Louris eschews solos for the most part, except in the high-flying “Always and a Day.” While the album title references an actual location in Dundas, Ontario, it revolves around a fictional place where memories re-emerge, childhood friends long silent begin to speak together again, and teenage lovers start to become their older selves. There’s an open compendium of regrets and new possibilities. Yet, a couple of songs stray from this path. O’Reagan takes his only vocal turn on “Mr. Lincoln,” singing in a nasal style that differs markedly from Louris. Louris and Emerson Hart (of Tonic) wrote the song from the viewpoint of a band member playing for Abraham Lincoln as his train passes. There’s an admission that the protagonist was not Lincoln’s biggest fan, and there are implications of the seeds of divisiveness. Also, Louris’s pulsating “American Midnight” becomes overtly political – “It’s like watching a funeral for a friend/Some see a beginning, I only see the end/The smell of sulfur in the air/American midnight.” They add pedal steel textures to “Hands Upon the Wheel” and the jaunty “It’ll Be Alright Tonight,” giving us a throwback to their origins as an alt-country outfit. Accordion and mandolin imbue a down-home feel in “Leap of Faith,” a reflection on mortality, sung so exuberantly that one would assume it’s celebratory. The title track stands out for its imagery and clarity of sense of place and secrets shared. The piano-driven “Familiar Strangers” is another potent song of reminiscence, while the acoustic closer “Rowing the Boat” further ups the ante on charm. Sanctuary Park is more than a worthy addition to the storied Jayhawks catalog. It belongs near the top.