THE Jayhawks are one of those bands seemingly forever destined to be the critics' favourite. It's a damning phraseloaded with self indulgence and importance, two character traits completely missing from the band's creative blueprint of anxious country/roots music. They've been going for more than 12 years, and although their name is well regarded, The Jayhawks have yet to find favour with the people who really make or break a music act - the public.
"That's always the difficulty of being a favourite among music critics," says guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Gary Louris, on the band's minor upward curve throughout their career. "We were on the verge of splitting up about two years ago. Mark Olsen, the band's original cofounder, left to pursue some other things, and I suppose that threw things into a spin. Twelve years is a long time, especially for a group of people who were quite different, and who felt they were stuck in a genre of their own creation. For some reason, we felt unable to explore other avenues with that particular line up. Mark was possibly more of a traditionalist than myself, and perhaps lost a bit of interest or control in what we wanted to do."
It's a familiar story of musical differences, folks. But along with the separate needs to investigate different strains of music was the fact that, in Gary's words, "we were both control junkies. He wanted total control of the band, and he knew that he couldn't get it with me around. In truth, he didn't want it from me. He respected me, as I did him. So he was happy to go and work with his wife singer/songwriter Victoria Williams."
The Jayhawks's latest album, Sound Of Lies, differs from their previous efforts in that it's louder and more guitar oriented. At its core, however, lies a Louvin Brothers/Neil Young country perspective.
"There's certainly more of an edge," affirms Gary, who refuses to align his band to any spurious "alternative" country music scene.