Tag: Gary Louris

Golden Smog – Glad and Sorry

If you take acoustic country and mix it with Big Star, you get bands like Wilco and this band Golden Smog. You literally get Big Star, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo (who I spelled wrong in the past), and The Jayhawks; the explanation is at the bottom. I’m glad that CB mentioned this band because they are exactly what I’m into right now. 

They started as a loose collaboration of Minneapolis-based musicians who got together to play cover songs under pseudonyms. The name Golden Smog comes from a character in a Flintstones episode. The band initially played country and rock covers, but it evolved into a serious musical project over time.

Membership in this band has been fluid. They have had Chris Mars (Replacements drummer), Jeff Tweedy (Wilco),  Louris and Perlman of The Jayhawks, Dave Primer from Soul Asylum, and more. Also in 1997, Jody Stephens became their drummer. He was an original member of Big Star. 

All in all, they have released 4 albums starting in 1995 with Down by the Old Mainstream. This is the album that this song was on. It was a cover of a Faces song written by Ronnie Lane, and they did a super job on it. I love both versions, and I’m not easy on cover versions, but this hits the mark. 

I will be going over all of their albums in the future. I’ve liked everything I’ve heard by them so far. Here is a list of their members…present and past.

Kraig Johnson (Kraig Jarret Johnson and the Program)
Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum)
Gary Louris (Jayhawks)
Marc Perlman (Jayhawks)
Steve Gorman (Black Crowes)

and their past members

Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum)
Chris Mars (Replacements)
Noah Levy (Brian Setzer and Soul Asylum)
Jeff Tweedy (Uncle Tupelo and Wilco)
Jody Stephens (Big Star)

Glad and Sorry

Thank you kindlyFor thinking of meIf I’m not smilingI’m just thinkingGlad and sorryHappy or sadAll is done and spokenYou’re up or I’m downCan you show me a dream?Can you show me one that’s better than life?Can you stand it in the cold light of day?Well, neither can ICan you show me a dream?Can you show me one that’s better than life?Can you stand it in the cold light of day?Well, neither can I

…

Jayhawks – Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces

I first found out about The Jayhawks in 2000 or so with a song called I’m Gonna Make You Love Me and the song Blue.

The Jayhawks formed in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in 1985 and played alternative country rock. They have released 11 studio albums and are worth checking out. The band went on hiatus in the early 2000s but soon reformed and returned in 2003 with a highly regarded album Rainy Day Music and has stayed together ever since.

This song was written by Gary Louris. The song did reasonably well when released. I would hear it on our alternative channel in Nashville. They are one of those bands that never could get over the hump to a mass audience.  I always think of them, Wilco, and Big Star coming from some of the same musical territory. The Jayhawks have had a few successful albums but never became household names.

The album peaked at #75 on the Billboard Album Charts and #51 in the UK in 2016. The single peaked at #26 on the Alternative Album Charts.

Since our Kinks Weeks are coming up I thought I would mention this. They have a Kinks tie… They backed Ray Davies on his albums Americana and Our Country – Americana Act II. T

Gary Louris: Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces” started with the idea that I wanted to write a big, soaring, old-school pop song. With lyrics, I either tend to do a stream-of-consciousness or a cut-and-paste kind of thing. This one was something out of a newspaper that I cut out. I just have piles of stuff.

For me, it’s a spark to kind of throw some things together, along with other methods, like mumbling. A lot of times, when I’m writing, I sing and play and whatever comes out comes out, and these words are inferred by sounds and half-words. Then I come around and get the meaning out of that, and it’s usually coming from some place inside that is kind of revelatory in a way. It’s almost like therapy.

So, from there, I wrote a song about running away from certain things. Again, in a Proust kind of way, finding a spot where you can be introspective, away from the noise, and get your head together.

Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces

Aside the wandering eye has openedA stare all the way bare and brokenThe start of a brand new adventure

Hey nowCatch me quick before I walk awayTell me if there’s something I should sayI’ll find the quiet corners and the empty spaces

Not far a blue guitar is playingIt drew me like it knewAnd it’s saying

Hey nowCatch me quick before I walk awayTell me if there’s something I should sayI’ll find the quiet corners and the empty spaces

We drown in ups and downsNeglectingThe beauty of my sun is setting

In the end there’s no way in redemptionHey nowCatch me quick before I walk awayTell me if there’s something I should sayI’ll find the quiet corners and the empty spacesHey nowCatch me quick before I walk awayTell me if there’s something I should say

…

Jayhawks – Big Star

I love this band…it seems I have a fondness for bands that released good to great music but never could get over that hump to mass audiences. Maybe if they would have cleared that obstacle their music would have changed…but who knows… maybe it’s a part of their appeal.

This song comes out in 1997 and was on their Sound of Lies album. At first I thought it was about the Memphis band Big Star and it is kinda…and also about The Jayhawks and loving what you have now. The album peaked at #112 in the Billboard Album Chart and #61 in the UK.

They have a Kinks tie… They recently backed Ray Davies on his albums Americana and Our Country – Americana Act II. Their 2016 album Paging Mr. Proust was produced by Peter Buck of REM.

They formed in the mid-80s in the Twin Cities .

Gary Louris when asked if the song is about the band Big Star: “Not exactly. Maybe in the back of my mind.” “You could say it about the Velvet Underground or Big Star or The Jayhawks,” “world’s unluckiest bands. They should have been bigger. But everybody in the audience started a band. Everybody that saw them started a band. The old cliché. But it’s true.”

 “I have a lot of famous friends.” “about achieving a place that you thought you wanted to be and maybe it would make you happy. It’s a typical human response. If I get there, then I’m finally going to be happy. And in reality, you probably won’t be. You should just be happy with what you have.”

Big Star

I’m flat-busted
Wild-eyed and free
I couldn’t get arrested if I tried
A has-been at a mere thirty-five

Straight, honest, forthright and true
Great expectations for someone
Doesn’t anybody know how to have fun
But I’m

Gonna be a Big Star
I’m gonna be a Big Star someday
I’m gonna be a Big Star someday

Grape’s bitter
I’m no quitter
Revolutions come one by one
Seems it’s high noon and I ain’t got no gun

But it’s so hard
So hard
So hard getting by

Gonna be a Big Star
I’m gonna be a Big Star someday
I’m gonna be a Big Star someday

Fine bourbon, Cuban cigars
Rude remarks observed at the C.C. Bar
I’m perfecting the finest art of wasting hours
But I’m

Gonna be a Big Star
I’m gonna be a Big Star someday
I’m gonna be a Big Star someday

I’m gonna be a Big Star
I’m gonna be a Big Star someday