The Jayhawks, a group with origins in the 1980s Minneapolis music scene, are proudly celebrating 40 years as an act. Original members Gary Louris (vocals, guitars) and Marc Perlman (bass) have watched their surroundings shift while delivering a blend of consistent and understated soft-rock, folk, and bar-band music. While Americana’s popularity has spiked from time to time (consider the likes of Wilco, Ryan Adams, and Bright Eyes), the Jayhawks have remained one of the most consistent acts, the genre’s elder statespeople but also singular in style.
On Sanctuary Park, the Jayhawks return as a quartet with the same lineup featured on XOXO (2020), including Louris, Perlman, Karen Grotberg (keyboards), and Tim O’Reagan (drums). There is cause for great celebration and an opportunity for the band to gaze back and also forge ahead—into Canada, as it were. Many of the tracks are rooted in place and simultaneously recognize how time is finite, which can stir sentimental feelings but also remind listeners just how great the Jayhawks were and sometimes still are, an indicator that this may be the first of many well-earned victory laps as longevity, not craft alone, becomes a marker of success.
Take the concept of sister cities, then apply it to a band, and the Jayhawks have a spiritual connection to Canada, not only because Louris married a Canadian and now has citizenship, but also due to the style of their music that remains indebted to such acts as Neil Young, the Guess Who, and the Band. Notably, the record gets its name from an actual place in Canada. Producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed) also hails from Toronto, Ontario, which is where the album was recorded. The rich harmonies and accordion bellows on “Kingston Girl” sound about as Canadian as it gets, similar to how London-based America feels more American than the Southwest itself.
The Jayhawks have a dynamic sound and create synergy that pulls you in immediately. Opening track and lead single “Keeping Our Heads Above Water” is one such number that is as uplifting as anything they’ve ever released. Louris isn’t necessarily known as a storyteller in the vein of great songwriters like Steve Earle or Lucinda Williams. Still, he has the gift of painting a scene rich with emotion, in this case entering the mindset of an adolescent girl and ratcheting up her angst. The title track is another such standout, calling to mind vivid details such as “Highlights in your hair, your lipstick red” and “Smoking darts behind the tennis courts.”
The record shines when the Jayhawks light on some wistful element, whether real or imagined. Sanctuary Park proves both: an Ontario landmark and the intimate place experienced only between two people. “Hands Upon the Wheel” underscores a certain simplicity underlying the act of absconding, transporting the listener with steel guitar and piano. Like some of their songs have occasion to do, it can get tiresome through repetition and a lack of variety.
Moreover, many of the tracks fall flat as they venture into territory forged by celebrated acts from an earlier era, including Harry Chapin (“Mr. Lincoln”), the Guess Who (“Always and a Day”), Crosby, Stills, and Nash (“American Midnight”), and Simon & Garfunkel (“Rowing the Boat”). After so many years, with so many common elements, it must be impossible not to sound like anyone other than themselves—although they’ve done a remarkable job up to this point.
Sanctuary Park and the accompanying worldwide tour will certainly appeal to the band’s longtime supporters. No alternative country fan will be disappointed by new material from the Jayhawks, a group now—perhaps always—indebted to our neighbours up north. A few of the songs may even be regarded as some of their strongest ever. If nothing else, this moment feels like a proper occasion to celebrate their entire catalogue and recognize them as one of the most important acts of a generation.