IT’s been a long, if occasionally rocky, time coming. But for followers of the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris and Mark Olson, in their various musical incarnations, the pair’s gem of a new acoustic collaboration, “Ready for the Flood,” is a suitable reward.
Part Byrds, part Simon & Garfunkel and of course part Jayhawks, Olson and Louris seem to have picked up where they left off when Olson quit their Minneapolis folk/country roots rock quartet in 1995.
After 10 years together, Olson says, “We really didn’t stay in touch . . . and it was my fault, really.” Olson relocated with then-wife Victoria Williams to Joshua Tree, Calif., made solo records and worked on his rock collection (the mineral kind).
Six years later, the two made their first stab at reconnecting when the folks behind the movie “The Rookie” wanted a new Louris-Olson song.
Recounts Louris from his part-time home in Spain: “I went out to his place in the desert, and we spent a good few hours hashing out everything that was bothering. It was very therapeutic. We had it out, then we turned around and wrote two songs.”
“We figured out we really liked playing and singing together,” says Olson.
“The Rookie” passed on the music, but they ended up touring – and writing some new tunes.
They wrote the songs for “Ready for the Flood” in Minneapolis (Louris’ most-of-the-year home), rehearsed in Joshua Tree and recorded in LA. When they were writing, the two gave each other “assignments.” For the pretty “Kick the Wood,” Olson did his homework in a Minnesota park where he encountered a group of Ethiopian soccer players in a “rainbow of uniform colors.” That song begins, “Pretty colors, pretty colors.”
The strummy love song “Doves and Stones” (an MPFree at nypost.com), draws on Olson’s home in the desert – where he says there are lots of both.
Like some of the other tunes, the murder ballad “Bloody Hands” contrasts the down subject with upbeat music and delightful harmonies. “I think that’s our specialty,” says Louris. “That’s my favorite kind of music, the stuff that has the darkness but sounds great. Too much of one thing is overkill.”
The dark lyrics, Louris adds, are also fun to write, “just like if you’re an actor, it’s more fun to play an evil character.”
But that doesn’t prevent Louris and Olson from being happy with together again. “We’re fast friends,” says Louris. Enough so that Louris let Olson’s name appear first on the album?
“Maybe it’s my Catholic guilt going back to Jayhawks’ issues of continuing [the band] without him,” Louris quips. “I was happy to have his name first. Everything that seemed like a big deal back in the day is not anymore.”
Mark Olson and Gary Louris play Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall Saturday night.
