The Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hall

The Jayhawks are marvels for a number of reasons, not the least of which is their ability to combine spare country rock with matter-of-fact urgency. But perhaps the band's greatest triumph – even above the fact that it manages to flourish in a Minneapolis music scene that has more to do with dissonance than innocence – is that it proves once and for all that simplicity and grace don't have to be bland and, more important, that it's possible to be reverent while still being relevant. While the Jayhawks have been busy proving these points for seven years (and two albums on Twin Tone), with Hollywood Town Hall they may have just issued their definitive statement.

The album – ten songs that blend into a seamless whole – conjures images of the Flying Burrito Brothers touching down in Minnesota. The key is song-writers Gary Louris and Mark Olson – a team that possesses an uncanny knack for making the most rudimentary offering seem fresh. The songs on Town Hall amble easily down the path already cut by kindred spirits like Neil Young and the Burrito Brothers before them. But when Louris's and Olson's voices rise together, the resulting magic somehow seems like nothing you've heard before. "Waiting for the Sun," which lays Louris's guitar crunch beneath the tune's laid-back sway, almost becomes an anthem, while "Clouds" revels in the pure fun of country-tinged jangle as it subversively spits out lyrics like "The God of the rich man ain't the God for the poor."

Even the band's rehashing of "Two Angels" – the best track off its last album, The Blue Earth – seems justified in the context of Town Hall's sweeping tales of down and out underdogs and lovesick underachievers. Add Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench – whose soulful playing holds the entire collection together – and this album is as raggedly beautiful as any in recent memory.

While their hometown brethren might overshadow them in volume, not many can compete with the Jayhawks when it comes to passion. With a record like Hollywood Town Hall, this band won't be in the wings much longer. (from Rolling Stone issue 6420
4 of 5 stars