Ready For The Flood, set for release in late summer on Hacktone/Rykodisc, is a record many thought would never happen after Louris and Olson parted in 1995.
The seeds of their reunion were planted in late 2001 when Louris visited Olson’s place in Joshua Tree for a little post-9/11 catharsis. Around the same time, the pair received an offer to co-write for the soundtrack to the movie The Rookie. “So we wrote two songs and hashed through a lot of personal issues,” Louris recounts. “[They were] emotional, heavy-duty sessions and it brought us together again.
“I had missed Mark in the band; as proud as I am of what we did after him, there was a void for me as far as a foil or a partner in crime. But the most important thing is I regained an old friend. To have someone who can share moments and memories with you from way back in the early ’80s is hard to replace.”
The material written at those sessions didn’t make it into the movie, though Olson did release one of the compositions, “Say You’ll Be Mine”, on his 2002 disc December’s Child. Louris and the Jayhawks returned to the road that same year (with “Say You’ll Be Mine” also in their sets) and released the critically acclaimed Rainy Day Music in April 2003.
With their friendship restored and the songwriting partnership rekindled, did they ever ponder Olson rejoining the Jayhawks? “Not really,” Louris replies before reconsidering. “Well, there was some thought at one point, maybe, but it was kind of confusing, especially for people who became fans post-Olson and all of a sudden we’re Jayhawks mk1 instead of mk2.”
Once the Jayhawks had grounded, Louris and Olson kept talking and eventually toured together in 2005, joined by Mike “Razz” Russell on bass and Ray Woods on drums, and in 2006 as a duo. By then it was clear they were not only ready to write together again but to record an album.
It took a mere four afternoons at Russell’s house in Minneapolis to pen fourteen complete songs. “When we work together it is fast, good and natural,” says Louris. “It wasn’t like we had to be in the perfect spot with the perfect mood — when we get together we write songs, and we complete each other pretty well.”
Though they have always been complementary songwriters, Louris calls the batch of songs for the forthcoming album their “most collaborative” to date, truly “writing together.” That differs slightly from the past where each might bring in a partially or nearly completed song for the other’s final input or approval.
“Mark is a little more excited about doing the lyrics,” Louris says of his partner. “I tend to be a little more excited about doing the melody. But that changes; it’s not so black and white. I’ve learned a lot from Mark [about] lyrics….It is his gift.”
While their individual talents may be meshing, their pal Robinson sees — and relishes in — the differences between the old friends. “All you have to do is be in a room with the two of them,” he asserts. “Mark is a little more disheveled, his boots are dirty, his shirts have holes in the elbows, and his guitar looks like it has been dragged behind a car. Gary comes in immaculate, he’s kind of a dandy, and his guitar is perfect. They are juxtaposed in a classic, archetypal songwriting duo.”
Robinson’s involvement in the Olson and Louris project began when the pair asked him to come by and “write a couple of tunes together,” then later to produce. “Besides our friendship, I’m a fan,” he says unabashedly. “To be asked to help facilitate what they’re feeling and what they want to say in their music was a great thrill.”
Pre-production rehearsals convened in Joshua Tree (where Olson has lived for many years), and Robinson had a clear vision for the record almost immediately. “When you have a group of songs that are born out of a spontaneous place,” he contends, “you definitely want to round them up and get them right then and there. [This is not] pop music. We’re not talking about remixes and that kind of thing. You want to adhere to the most authentic place.”
One material way this vision deviated from how Olson and Louris had recorded together in the past was Robinson’s direction that “everything is going to be live, one take, no headphones” in an attempt to capture in the studio what he had heard during the Joshua Tree rehearsals. With the producer focused on shaping “great material, great sounds and a great performance,” all that was left was to get a great recording, which was entrusted to engineer Thom Monahan.
When it came time to pick songs for the record, the pair had a wealth of new material, but “we didn’t use them all,” says Louris. “We ended up doing three or four older songs that we really loved but had never been released, and they came out great.” Two of the songs, “The Trap’s Been Set” (a line from which supplies Ready For The Flood with its title) and “Turn Your Pretty Name Around”, date back to 1990, and Louris says the blending with 2006 is seamless: “They could have been written the same day.”
With a new album together and two tours under their belts, Louris is clearly bonded with Olson going forward. Unprompted, he cautiously suggests, “If we ever did do anything — and I don’t want to stir up any ashes here — but a [Jayhawks] show someday, just for the hell of it, I would want to do it with Mark.”
Erik Flannigan interviewed Gary Louris for previous No Depression cover stories on the Jayhawks and Golden Smog.
