Somebody Ease My Soul
Jayhawks circa 1991-92
L-R: Marc Perlman, Ken Callahan, Mark Olson & Gary Louris
Photo: Andrew Catlin
A near-perfect album, Hollywood Town Hall showcases the exquisite vocal harmonies of Mark Olson (low) and Gary Louris (high), who extend the close harmony country rock tradition of Don and Phil Everly or Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman. Add to that Louris' stunning Fuzz Face leads and behind the beat, steel-esque bends evocative of the late, great Clarence White, a glorious guitar sound completely out of step with the drop-D grunge riffage and metallic funk so popular in 1992. Of course, what makes the harmonies and lead guitar so effective is the fact that they sit on top of a luxurious pocket formed by Olson on acoustic guitar and harmonica, Marc Perlman on bass, session hotshot Charlie Drayton on drums, and Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers on piano and organ.
FYI, Jayhawks drummer Ken Callahan plays on a pair of tracks previously recorded for Blue Earth and redone for Hollywood, "Two Angels" and "Martin's Song," both featuring the legendary Nicky Hopkins on piano. However, producer George Drakoulias felt Callahan wasn't up to snuff, so he replaced him in the studio with Drayton.
"I think it's definitely fair to say Ken got the shaft. He was the guy who had to go first in the studio. On the first day, it was just, 'OK, Ken, go!' The rest of us had the luxury of settling into the situation, but not Ken, he was straight out of the chute. The beauty of that story is Ken got to redeem himself, in the end, when we made Short Man's Room with Joe Henry, and he played great on that record. Ken's in Milwaukee now, I believe, and I still see him when I go through there."
–Gary Louris to Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune, January 27, 2011
The loss of Callahan aside – and arguably, including that element – everything comes together on Hollywood Town Hall from the opening notes of "Waiting For The Sun." The song begins with Louris' muted guitar chank followed immediately by Tench dropping a single piano note high up on the keyboard. Louris then enters with a riff straight outta "Lover Of The Bayou" – itself based on "All Along The Watchtower" – and he has the song to himself for just under two bars when Tench re-enters and the whole band, led by Drayton on drums, falls in behind. At :11, Tench adds the kind of eerie organ line that made songs like "You Got Lucky" so distinctive.
I love how the musicians play with the beat because it's precisely why the song has such a massive pocket. Drayton lays off, except in the prechorus ("It was not lost on me") and chorus ("Walkin' on down the road ...") where he's right on the one. Perlman is mostly on beat, but you can hear him wander behind and in front throughout. Tench also tends to stay on beat, but what makes his piano so effective is his minimalism. Tench only adds color at the end of lines in the verse, big church chords in the prechorus, and underneath melody in the chorus. I especially love his handoff to Louris leading into the guitar solo at 2:31 (which sounds more like Jimmy Page than it does White).
Jayhawks on KTCA's Channel 2 Showcase, St. Paul-Minneapolis, February 28, 1992
If there's a downside to Hollywood Town Hall, it's that it was too rock for Nashville and emerged when unadventurous, tin-eared program directors controlled mainstream rock radio. The band couldn't find a spot on commercial stations, despite the fact they weren't all that different from Tom Petty and should've gained a foothold on outlets comfortable with the country/folk stylings of R.E.M. Instead, they found a whole lotta nothing.
“There was no scene that we felt like we were part of. If anything, there was Uncle Tupelo, but I think we were a little bit ahead of some of the other bands. There weren’t a lot of people doing what we doing at the time and that was part of the thrill of it. It didn’t fit in Minnesota and didn’t fit anywhere else. There was never any kind of country rock summit meeting. Even to this day, we’re still outsiders. We never get acknowledged by any kind of Americana music festival. It’s almost like we don’t exist in some way, and that’s ok. Part of it is probably a result of being isolated up here in Minneapolis.”
