They were at the forefront of the revival of American roots music in the 1980s. The Jayhawks' career subsequently took bumpy roads. That's how their main songwriter and frontman in 1995. Second man, guitarist and singer Gary Louris, however, took over and did this surprisingly well and successfully. The eleventh studio album Xoxo is therefore a classy record as we have always come to expect from
… the band. Their solid mid-tempo country rock doesn't sound surprising, but they play it with verve and with the tight harmony vocals as a strong asset. Besides Louris, keyboardist Karen Grotberg in particular shows herself to be a strong songwriter in the beautiful ballad Ruby, also sung by her. But drummer Tim O'Reagan also has a finger in the compositions and in opener This Forgotten Town immediately duets with Louris. Thus, The Jayhawks on Xoxo sound like a close and inspired band again. (MR)more
