Return of the Jayhawks

The show of the week is the unlikely appearance of the classic Jayhawks line-up at the Phoenix on Tuesday (January 18) who have been recording on a new album slated for an early summer release. If their recent reunion gigs are any indication of what's in store, expect the set list to include a number of crowd-pleasers from 1992's Hollywood Town Hall (American) and 1995's Tomorrow The Green GrassAmerican) albums which together encompass the Jayhawks' finest work.

Not entirely coincidentally, both albums are being reissued Tuesday in expanded Legacy Editions with Hollywood Town Hall appended with the UK bonus track Leave No Gold, the Australian EP tracks Keith & Quentin and Up Above My Head in addition to two unreleased songs Warm River and Mother Trust You To Walk To The Store.

However, it's the re-release of Tomorrow The Green Grass that gets the real deluxe treatment with three previously unissued tunes (You and I, Sweet Hobo Self, Sleep While You Can), the B-sides Last Cigarette and the title track Tomorrow The Green Grass and most intriguing of all, a bonus disc entitled "Mystery Demos" containing 18 never-officially released numbers from the peak years of Gary Louris and Mark Olson's productive songwriting collaboration.

Dedicated Jayhawks fans will likely already know about the so-called "Mystery Demos" – some 44 different songs on cassette tapes said to be discovered in a closet by the girlfriend of someone vaguely connected with the band that have been circulating on the down low since 2003. But when exactly they were recorded, where and who played on the sessions has never been pinpointed. Some of the songs – or parts of them – eventually wound up being re-recorded by Golden Smog, The Creekdippers, the Louris-fronted Jayhawks and the Olson/Louris duo project Ready For The Flood but a few will be delightful new discoveries for those who believe the Jayhawks were at their best during the early 90s.

To get you in the right frame of mind for Tuesday's re-releases and Phoenix gig, here are a couple of vintage Jayhawks performances for the Twin Cities program Showcase which originally aired on PBS in 1992 as you could probably guess from the hairstyles. Be sure to watch the Two Angels clip right to the end or you'll miss Mark Olson's revelatory insights on band nutrition and touring economics. 

Wichita by The Jayhawks
 


Two Angels by The Jayhawks



Settled Down Like Rain by The Jayhawks




Waiting For The Sun by The Jayhawks



Crowded In The Wings by The Jayhawks