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Gary Louris today<\/p>\nGary Louris currently lives in the mountains of Quebec, Canada just outside of Montreal with his wife, Stephanie. But for most of his adult life the Jayhawks singer\/guitarist has called Minneapolis, Minnesota home. So, it\u2019s no surprise that he and his lady love\u2014who he refers to as an avid follower of news and \u201cvery political\u201d\u2014have kept close tabs on the recent ICE-fueled chaos in the City of Lakes.<\/p>\n
Gary Louris today<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at those news feeds and I say \u2018I know that street where Alex Pretti was killed,\u2019 and other places I\u2019ve recognized and recorded at. The rest of the band lives there and friends live there, and it\u2019s just\u2026weird,\u201d he says on the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started touring and said we were from Minneapolis, first it was \u2018Oh, that\u2019s where Prince is from.\u2019 Then it became \u2018Oh, that\u2019s where the Mall of Americas is.\u2019 And then it was \u2018Oh, that\u2019s where George Floyd was killed.\u2019 Back in the day, it was clean, quiet, and flyover country. Now, it\u2019s crazy and scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consisting of Louris, Tim O\u2019Reagan (drums\/vocals), Marc Perlman (bass), and Karen Grotberg (keyboards\/vocals), the Jayhawks will fly South for the winter to Houston and the Heights Theater on March 6.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s interesting is that this is not part of a larger tour: just three Texas dates in Austin, Houston, and Dallas. And the trek is not tied to a new album as their last (though COVID-aborted) dates for 2020\u2019s XOXO were scheduled. And for which the Houston Press spoke with Grotberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, we\u2019re excited to come anywhere that\u2019s warm! We haven\u2019t been to Houston in a while,\u201d Louris says. Indeed, their last H-Town gig was a decade ago for the Paging Mr. Proust tour. \u201cAnd we haven\u2019t played together in a while as a band. Karen had a knee operation. So, this will be sort of a reunion to start what is going to be a busy year.\u201d<\/p>\n That includes a new Jayhawks record coming out this summer. It will be a reunion with producer Bob Ezrin, who also helmed 2000\u2019s Smile. Ezrin is best known for his work with rock acts like Pink Floyd (The Wall), KISS (Destroyer), Alice Cooper (School\u2019s Out, Billion Dollar Babies), and Lou Reed (Berlin). Recorded in Toronto, Louris anticipates they\u2019ll play two or three cuts from the as-yet untitled release on the Texas dates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe stay in touch and I told Bob we were making a new record and he said he\u2019d love to do it. Sort of a \u2018Will Work for Food\u2019 kind of thing. We convened last September and are excited,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The Jayhawks were founded in 1984, with Louris joining the next year. They quickly became poster boys for the then-nascent alt country\/No Depression movement with records like Blue Earth (1989), Hollywood Town Hall (1992), and Tomorrow the Green Grass (1995), the last of which yielded their biggest \u201chit\u201d to date in \u201cBlue.\u201d<\/p>\n And while there have been various lineup changes, hiatuses, and reunions, it\u2019s Louris who has steered the ship for most of their career. A ship that while sailing mostly in those Americana waters, has also ventured into gulfs of rock (Sound of Lies), pop (Smile), and art rock (Paging Mr. Proust). It\u2019s genre slippin\u2019 and slidin\u2019 that Louris says keeps the band fresh and challenged.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve always fallen in the seams and cracks which makes us harder to market and typecast. But on the other hand, it gives you more freedom. We\u2019ve always been left to our own devices with records. It\u2019s like \u2018They\u2019re a cool band, let them do what they want to,\u2019\u201d Louris offers.<\/p>\n Amusingly, many could be forgiven for thinking that the group hailed from the actual \u201cJayhawk State,\u201d which is Kansas. Louris has spent years explaining that the name was chosen prior to his joining, more as a tribute to the Arkansas-to-Ontario based Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks (whose \u201cHawks\u201d would later leave their leader to form The Band).<\/p>\n The Jayhawks is also the moniker of the basketball team at the University of Kansas. Louris says he\u2019s at least happy they weren\u2019t saddled with the name of their hometown University of Minnesota Twin Cities hoopsters: The Golden Gophers.<\/p>\n Back to the new record, Louris says will have a sort of \u201cthrowback\u201d sound and focus on the vocal harmonies of himself and Grotberg. He adds it was mostly completed in just 10 days, with overdubs done in his home studio.<\/p>\n On XOXO, all four members had writing and lead vocal credits. Will that be the same template for the new release?<\/p>\n \u201cNo, that door has closed!\u201d Louris says. \u201cI\u2019m not against it, but I\u2019m still more of a control freak! That came at a particular moment in time when I was also working on my solo record. And it seemed like an interesting thing to do. Now, if people have a great song, the song wins. But in this case, it\u2019s pretty much my songs, with some contributions from people outside the band that I had written with in years past for projects outside of the Jayhawks.\u201d<\/p>\n As for that solo album, 2025\u2019s Dark Country almost exclusively featured just Louris\u2019 voice and acoustic guitar, with a sprinkling of piano, harmonica, and orchestral work. The whole project was a love letter to Stephanie, warm and intimate.<\/p>\n However, Louris says that in his writing process, he doesn\u2019t finish a tune and think \u201cthis is for the band\u201d or \u201cthis is for another project.\u201d In addition to the Jayhawks and a solo career, Louris also dabbles in other collaborations and an occasional group, Golden Smog.<\/p>\n \u201cFunny enough, there\u2019s one song on Dark Country that has been reinvented for the Jayhawks. \u2018Blow \u2018Em Away\u2019 has been rewritten as \u2018Hands Upon the Wheel.\u2019 There are a couple of songs on there I would have liked to hear with bass and drums,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother one, \u2018Until You Came Along\u2019 was written for Sound of Lies but just didn\u2019t come together. The chemistry of the band and song wasn\u2019t right then. But I rarely sit down and know what the songs [are for]. They find their own way.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Houston, Louris says he first played the city with his pre-Jayhawks rockabilly band Safety Last. He recalls they opened for Johnny Reno & the Sax Maniacs in \u201ca cool venue that was like a giant barn.\u201d<\/p>\n Not so fond a memory was an early Jayhawks gig here where \u201cnobody showed up\u201d and the club owner paid them $250 to play one set and leave. Louris recalls they drove \u201c24 hours straight\u201d back to Minneapolis in their travel ambulance vehicle they had christened \u201cBeaulah.\u201d<\/p>\n More memorable was their show on February 6, 1993 at the now-defunct Sam Houston Coliseum. The Jayhawks opened for Def American label mates the Black Crowes on a historical gig that was actually a redo for an earlier Houston Crowes concert that had to be cancelled due to equipment issues.<\/p>\n The show was broadcast live on FM radio across the country and is known in Crowes circles as the \u201cHigh in Houston.\u201d This writer even ran into and met Louris backstage on the way to a pre-show Crowes press conference. A partial recording was included as a bonus disc on the 2023 The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion reissue\/box set.<\/p>\n Fittingly, Louris does recall that trip to town. \u201cI remember that because they had giant barbecues with giant steaks as part of the catering!\u201d he laughs. \u201cThat was so Texas!\u201d<\/p>\n He also has enjoyed ribbing Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson about a certain Lone Star State headline. That same week, the Jayhawks had a one-off headlining gig at a Dallas club. Members of the Crowes were in the audience and got up to jam at one point.<\/p>\n \u201cThe headline for the review in the paper said \u2018Black Crowes Mar Jayhawks Show!\u201d Louris laughs. \u201cI used to give Chris a lot of shit about that!\u201d<\/p>\n The Jayhawks play at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 6, at the Heights Theater, 339 W. 19th. For more information, call 1-214-272-8346 or visit TheHeightsTheater.com<\/a>. $50.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jayhawks-Live-Photo-2021-9-credit-Ten-Ten-Creative.jpg\")
The Jayhawks live in 2012: Marc Perlman, Tim O\u2019Reagan, Gary Louris, and Karen Grotberg. Credit: Ten Ten Creative<\/p>\n