If you are a fan of the great alt-country band, The Jayhawks, then Gary Louris needs no introduction. He was an original member of the band, which formed in 1985 and has been on hiatus since 2006 after releasing 7 studio albums. I am not exactly a connoisseur of all things alt-country, but I daresay that The Jayhawks, along with Uncle Tupelo and a handful of others, were one of the original bands in a movement that made it OK again for a rock band to display their country roots. This is why it was so disconcerting when The Jayhawks, carrying on through the 90s after the departure in ‘95 of one of their two main songwriters, Mark Olson, released Smile in 2000. I nearly lost faith, so over-produced, trite and sappy was the result. 2003’s Rainy Day Music was mostly a return to form, much more akin to their classic album Tomorrow The Green Grass, than the far more rocking Sound of Lies, but it still felt like some steam was missing. All of the right ingredients were there in the songs, but it felt overcooked and even a bit of a guilty pleasure.

Last night, as I was telling a friend, who I happen to know is a fan of The Jayhawks, about the new Gary Louris disc, he asked me if it was as good as Tomorrow The Green Grass. For better or worse, this is the bar against which all things Jayhawks-related are measured. I am happy to report that my answer is “yes” and “no”. What do I mean by this? Well, first of all I happen to believe that it’s a loaded question. You can’t expect an artist to go back and match their earlier work. People change, people grow. The Jayhawks’ early albums came out after a decade of overblown everything, and thus felt like a huge breath of fresh air. This same air has again grown stale. Vagabonds feels like a creative rebirth.

“True Blue” is the opening track, and is probably the most obvious choice for a single for the album. Then again, this might be a subconscious trick, as “Blue” was the title of the big single from Tomorrow The Green Grass. On the chorus, Louris repeats “strip it down to what you can believe in, base it all on what is right and true blue”, followed by “today is the day my branches bear their fruit and all my labor will be rewarded. when i awake, it’s like starting over”. It’s as if he is clearing the air by restating an old mantra, and therein reminding himself of his responsibilities to himself as an artist. And I have to admit, by the end of the song, I am sold and reminded why I fell in love with his songwriting to begin with.

Vagabonds was produced by Chris Robinson, lead singer of The Black Crowes. While the effect on the music is subtle, there are definitely some subtleties that you could easily credit Robinson with - not least of all the fuzzed out slide guitar and gospel vocals on “Omaha Nights”, the call and response and hand claps at the end of “To Die A Happy Man”, and the stoner rock midsection and CSNY-influenced chorus of “I Wanna Get High”. The production ranges from elaborate (in a very warm, organic way that is), like on “I Wanna Get High”, to sparse - as evidenced on the acoustic guitar, cymbal swell, and piano-tinkling of “Meandering” where Louris states, perhaps not coincidentally “the more we polish up our silver, the less it seems to shine”. And yes, there’s pedal steel. “She Only Calls Me On Sundays” is probably the most obviously country offering of the batch, although Robinson manages to sneak the gospel singers in on this one too, to gorgeous effect.

4 out of 5. Highly recommended.

I also suggest that, along with Vagabonds, you pick up Mark Olson’s latest solo album, Salvation Blues, and either acquaint yourself with The Jayhawks, or revisit these old friends and see what good things they have been up to since you last checked in.

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Gary Louris is currently on tour and will be at The State Theatre in Falls Church, VA on Thursday, April 3.

Mark Olson is on tour also, and lucky for us here in Charlottesville, will be at Gravity Lounge on Tuesday, May 6. See you there!