Gary Louris - Vagabonds

Debut solo offering from Jayhawks frontman

If The Jayhawks’ heart-wrenching country paeans were the natural successors to Gram Parsons’ frail beauty, then their leader Louris again harks back to the past on Vagabonds, this time reconnecting with the delicacy and introspection of Harvest-era Neil Young. A record rich in understated musical intimacy and lyrical soul-searching, it favourably survives comparisons to his band’s best work.

Produced by Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson and featuring contributions from Bangle Susannah Hoffs and Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis, Vagabonds appropriates the finer elements of the 70s West Coast singer-songwriter scene and dresses them up in 21st Century threads. Louris’ voice has tints of desperation, the sound of a man seeking answers to questions others may be too afraid to ask. It’s an articulate soundtrack to a life in crisis, or at least at a crossroads.

She Only Calls Me Sundays is the kind of portrait of faded love that Kris Kristofferson used to knock out at will, while I Wanna Get High pleas for mental oblivion, mixing John Lennon, Jack White and The Eagles into a haze of powder and pills. Best of all is the title track, a hymnal ode to the troubadours of yesterday, today and tomorrow and their quest for some kind of meaning through music.

Rykodisc | RCD 10295

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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