Americana takes center stage of new releases

A trio of terrific Americana-aimed releases are worth discovering...

Artist: Mark Olson & Ingunn Ringvold
Title: Magdalen Accepts the Invitation (Fiesta Red Records)
You might like if you enjoy: The Jayhawks, Bright Blue Gorilla
Tell me more: A deeply personal album filled with mood-swept Laurel Canyon Americana meets baroque pop originals, Magdalen Accepts the Invitation features 10 songs featuring the considerable talents of the husband-and-wife duo of Mark Olson (The Jayhawks, the Creekdippers) and Ingunn Ringvold. Set for release on June 5, the Joshua Tree-based duo's third collaboration is a winning set of tracks that excel on the strength of top-flight songwriting, beguiling vocal harmonies, nuanced arrangements and absorbing instrumentation. The couple's voices blend in captivating ways across the disc (just listen to the chamber pop-styled "Christina Hi!" and Neo-classical "Silent Mary"). Standouts abound on this terrific LP; I love the gentle opener "Pipestone I Won't Be Back," sweeping "April In Your Cloud Garden," and reflective "Black Locust." Information: FiestaRedRecords.com.

Artist: Marshall Chapman
Title: Songs I Can't Live Without (Tallgirl Records)
You might like if you enjoy: Marshall Chapman, Kim Carnes
Tell me more: Delving into a who's who of classic songwriters, Nashville-based artist Marshall Chapman's new album Songs I Can't Live Without fully delivers on that sharp title. Her wonderful raspy vocals uncover new shades and details on the wide range of material; an especially probing take of Bob Seger's "Turn the Page," a melancholic reimagining of the Carole King/Gerry Goffin classic "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," a playful reading of the Elvis Presley hit "Don't Be Cruel" and inspired "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" are among the terrific cuts here. Neilson Hubbard's excellent production and double role providing drums deserves kudos along with the contributions of studio players Will Kimbrough (lead guitar) and Dan Mitchell (keyboards, bass, Flugelhorn). Information: Tallgirl.com.

Artist: The Odd Birds
Title: Better Days (Ron Grigsby and Jennifer Moraca)
You might like if you enjoy: Mark Olson & Ingunn Ringvold, Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris, the Fallen Stars
Tell me more: The Odd Birds' wonderful debut release Better Days is a wonderful and breezy Americana release that exudes a warmth and sense of purpose in tune with the fast-moving track listing. The acoustic folk rocker "Better Get Outta Town" opens the EP, impressively introducing the duo of singer-guitarists Ron Grigsby and Jennifer Moraca — both of whom sing and play guitar. The countrified "Jenny-Lynn (Won't You Come Home)," uplifting "Fly" and yearning "Better Days" showcase their endearing sound. A tender cover of Lowell George's "Willin'" and Gram Parsons' "Return Of The Grievous Angel" further elevate the EP. In addition to his excellent production, Bobbo Byrnes adds some stellar guitar and organ work on the disc. Information: theoddbirds.com.



Robert Kinsler

Mark Olson and Ingunn Ringvold to release 'Magdalen Accepts the Invitation' on June 5, 2020

"April in Your Cloud Garden" is the first single from the forthcoming album from Mark Olson and Ingunn Ringvold. You can hear the great track and learn more about the project (which comes out in early June)...



Mark Olson (co-founder of The Jayhawks) and Ingunn Ringvold invite listeners to join them for a fascinating musical journey on 'Magdalen Accepts the Invitation,' due out June 5 via Fiesta Red Records.

The husband-and-wife duo's third collaboration mines a "Death Valley isolation chamber folk/pop sound" that is awash with darkness and light. American Songwriter  is premiering a track here.

JOSHUA TREE, Calif. — A roller coaster in a long-closed Lake Minnetonkaamusement park, walks through historic orthodox churches, a fossil-collecting canoe trip along the Niobrara River, and an isolated pizza place in South Africa. Old memories swirling in the warm Joshua Tree breezes provided Jayhawks founder Mark Olson and his wife, Norwegian singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ingunn Ringvold, with the inspiration for the set of intriguing, imagistic songs that lovingly fill their latest outing, Magdalen Accepts the Invitation, coming June 5, 2020 from Fiesta Red Records. 

The album’s ten tracks draw upon the couple’s recent adventures together and their earlier adventures apart as well as tapping into, and stretching out, their own individual musical influences. While continuing along the Americana-cobbled roads they took on their first two albums, Olson and Ringvold explore lesser traveled musical territories on this release. Without exactly knowing where they were going, the two were emboldened by each other’s company and unafraid to push forward. As Olson describes it:

“We wanted to go another way. We felt like we were being called to be a husband-and-wife songwriting team driving together at night, holding hands in the dark. Finding new ways of floating above the Armenian mountain streams of our memories when we played music. A language we only understood when nature spoke to us. We decidedly put melody first in a modal sense of the distance between notes and harmony … The writing, melodies, lyrics — then the recording and the takes — are very focused and clean. In the past I would get a start and go for the finish line as fast as possible. This time I doubled and tripled back including on the artwork to make sure everything was absolutely right.”

The recording sessions occurred during the heat of summer at Thermometer Shelter Studios, located not too far from Death Valley National Park. Olson admits that the experience was not so nice all the time. “You really begin to miss family and friends, community with one another, and college bookstores. The music begins to ask you something at this point: Am I strong? Can I do this all alone? Where am I going?”

The Armenian Qanon, the Mellotron, the dulcimer, and djembe drums are among the world of instruments that the multi-talented Ringvold contributed to Magdalen’s sound. The variety of arrangements on the album act, she explains, “like a different color in an impressionistic painting.” Ringvold also is thrilled about being able to weave elements of her family’s musical heritage into her own songs and the interesting ways that her work blended in with Olson’s original material.

All of Magdalen’s original track recordings were done on a Nagra field recorder, which further enhanced the album’s unvarnished sonic textures. Additionally, Olson and Ringvold were perfectly in sync when it came to the recording process. He did all the analog engineering while she did the digital. Handling the mixing and mastering, as he had on Spokeswoman of the Bright Sun, was the award-winning producer John Schreiner, and Olson sings high praise for the warmth and spaciousness that Schreiner delivers in his work. 

Olson’s track-by-track notes:

Pipestone I Won’t Be Back – Pipestone Minnesota is a town made of Sioux Quartzite buildings from the Catlinite Pipestone quarry location nearby. We visited the Pipestone National Monument on our way home from a tour one year, and continued on a two-lane highway along the Niobrara River through north Nebraska where we canoed and collected fossils.

Then You’ll Find the Morning – I wrote this on the porch we have in Joshua Tree that faces directly east. Starting in June the evenings here are super warm and livable because of the shadow. I like to play guitar out here. I keep reading about bee problems and imagined that bee poison reaching a person’s well water is pretty much the end. 

Excelsior Park – The old amusement park on Lake Minnetonka. It represents danger in some ways because of the scary high rollercoaster and the house of mirrors. My Dad was from a farm and this was not a place he was ever going to take us. If we wanted to go on rides it would be after a daylong excursion to the animal barns at the State Fair.

Christina Hi! – We wrote this song in the summer after going to the art classes and specifically working on writing a Qanon song. I was thinking about how easy it is to get involved with the wrong friends that are into derelict ideas and how that can affect a person’s life.

April in Your Cloud Garden – I think overwhelming stuff can put a person in a cloud garden, where you escape the reality and start to live in your imagination, and watering and tending a place that seems better. This is important and it can work, but then someday you have to come down from the cloud I guess.  

31 Patience Games – I wrote this in South Africa where Ingunn and I were married. We were there two separate times for six months total. We ended up in the mountains in the only hop-growing region of the country. It was foggy with lots of wild animals and streams and amazing people. It was really nice and sometimes we went to the beach. I saw the biggest crane in Africa flying over our cabin way up high in the air. So many memories. If there is a time of a person’s life that is the best — this was it for me.

Black Locust – I mail-ordered for a package of Black Locust tree seeds and planted them in the desert yard. Some of the trees have grown tall and they have nice white flowers. You need to place yourself in a place where your soul can grow and not be limited by gossip mongers and barbarian event manipulators. Starting your life over by planting trees by seed, with many of nature’s and technology’s ways against you and your babe, is where this song is coming from.

Elmira’s Fountain – Here is a song Ingunn and I started in Vanadzor, Armenia about a real fountain where we would meet our host, Elmira. She would take us to Orthodox churches and cool parks. This song made the album because of the positive hopeful energy I feel about the lyrics and also the idea of drinking out of wild rivers. We would stop and drink from springs in the mountains, but drinking from rivers would require another step on our part. We swam in Lake Sevon, which is very deep, cold and somewhat dangerous, but sinking in the sand by the water’s edge worked for us.

Silent Mary – This song started after listening to the classical music that made its way into early horror movies. I found some soundtracks where I pretty much scared myself into not watching the movies. I like the drama and lighting atmosphere though, so that worked well for the outline of my writing start.

Children of the Street Car – We would stop at the most old-fashioned, well-stocked small town utility store on earth in Lucerne Valley, and wander around the aisles to escape the heat. I started working on many of these lyrical lines in that store like the “fog minus time,” which I meant to mean current day San Francisco minus time equals the heyday of experimental folk rock — which in a way, along with Death Valley isolation chamber folk/pop, is a good way to describe our musical stating points. 

Mark Olson was born and raised in Minnesota by a family of mostly farmers and schoolteachers. Predominately a self-taught musician, Olson is well known for his use of alternate tunings and two-part unison singing that then breaks into harmony. He co-founded the Jayhawks in 1985 in Minneapolis. Olson was a principal songwriter, singer and guitarist for the band’s self-titled debut album, as well as later releases Blue Earth, Hollywood Town Hall, Tomorrow the Green Grass, and Mockingbird Time. Upon leaving the Jayhawks, he formed the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers in 1997 with Victoria Williams. That band, later called the Creekdippers, made seven albums. 

Ingunn Ringvold comes from Larvik, Norway (also the home of Thor Heyerdahl, the famed explorer and Kon Tiki author). Blessed with a naturally beautiful voice, she began singing in public at a very young age. Ringvold hears music in her heart and writes emotionally moving string arrangements. She studied the Armenian Qanon with Arax, a master musician in Vanadzor, Armenia, where she learned how to harness great strength in her performance style. She has released four solo albums in addition to her collaborations with Olson. 

Olson and Ringvold live now in the California desert, and they tour off and on internationally almost every year.

Pre-sale link: https://markolson.bandcamp.com/releases 

The Jayhawks to release deluxe editions of 'Sound of Lies,' 'Smile' and 'Rainy Day' on July 1, 2014

THE JAYHAWKS TO RELEASE DELUXE EDITIONS OF SOUND OF LIES, SMILE AND RAINY DAY MUSIC JULY 1^ST

REMASTERED, EXPANDED VERSIONS FEATURE STUDIO OUTTAKES, ALTERNATE VERSIONS AND DEMOS

'Sound of Lies' is among the Jayhawks classics set to get a deluxe treatment this summer

Hailed as pioneers of the alt-country/Americana sound, the Jayhawks emerged from Minneapolis' mid-'80s scene with a soaring combination of folksy harmonies and power-pop melodies. The band's status as a major influence, as well as that of being one of the best bands of its generation, are richly deserved.

The July 1st release of expanded versions of 1997's SOUND OF LIES, 2000's SMILE and 2003's RAINY DAY MUSIC complete the band's remastering of its entire back catalog. All three American Recordings/UME releases contain bonus tracks, new liner notes and expanded booklets. The albums also chronicle the band's evolution into crunchier rock, purer pop and a sort of twangy, psychedelic vibe before coming full-circle with a spare country-rock sound.

SOUND OF LIES, SMILE and RAINY DAY MUSIC will also be released August 5^th as deluxe, 2 LP vinyl editions to ensure maximum fidelity.  The deluxe vinyl reissues will be remastered on 180  gram heavyweight vinyl and also include the bonus tracks.

The Jayhawks formed in 1985 when Gary Louris was in the decidedly small crowd at the first show future songwriting partner Mark Olson did with bassist Marc Perlman and Norm Rogers (the first in a string of drummers, at least until Tim O'Reagan joined in 1995). A self-titled album was released on a local indie label and Minneapolis' Twin/Tone released some of the band's demos as "Blue Earth" in 1989. Legend has it that producer George Drakoulias (Black Crowes) heard the music in the background during a phone call to the label; Drakoulias eventually signed the band to Rick Rubin's Def American records and produced "Hollywood Town Hall" (1992) and "Tomorrow The Green Grass" (1995), making the Jayhawks staples on the then-emerging adult-alternative radio format.

Olson, the folksier member of the songwriting team, abruptly left the band in 1995. The band regrouped and kept the name, but Olson's departure and a divorce colored Louris' dark lyrics of the subsequent Jayhawks album, "Sound of Lies." With pianist Karen Grotberg as a permanent addition and harmony partner, Louris took advantage of his newfound freedom to experiment with '60s pop and a more electric sound, even getting a little crunchy around the edges on "Think About It."

Louris' lyrics took a more optimistic, albeit cautiously so, turn on the ambitious "Smile," produced by Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, KISS, Alice Cooper). Jen Gunderman stepped in when Grotberg left to raise a family, and this time Louris' ventures into contemporary pop featured looping and overdubs, turning downright trip-hop on "Queen of the World," "Somewhere in Ohio" and "(In My) Wildest Dreams." It may have been an artistic triumph, but even with the twangy "Better Days" and "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," the album proved to be a bit much for fans of the Jayhawks' earlier sound and came after the decline of the adult-alternative format. The headline on a New York Times story about the band asked, "What If You Made a Classic, and No One Cared?"

It was after an acoustic tour that Louris, Perlman, O'Reagan and guitarist Stephen McCarthy recorded 2003's "Rainy Day Music," a seeming return to form. The first four tracks are a mini masterpiece -- the gently chiming "Stumbling Through the Dark" (written by Louris and Matthew Sweet), the twang-meets-"Eve of Destruction" feel of the soaring "Tailspin,"  the country gospel harmonies of  "All the Right Reasons" and the catchy, bittersweet "Save It for a Rainy Day" (if you're trolling the songs on YouTube, that is indeed Mary-Louise Parker in the video). Instead of the earnest folk of the Jayhawks' early days, there's a sophisticated, spare sound and a Byrds/CSNY/Buffalo Spingfield vibe. Producer Ethan Johns' credits speak for themselves -- CSN, Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Ray LaMontagne, Crowded House, Laura Marling just to name a few.

It will be the basic lineup from the band's 1997 shows -- Louris, Perlman, O'Reagan, Grotberg and Kraig Johnson -- that will tour in support of the reissues. Much of July and part of August will be spent on a mix of headlining and festival dates in Europe, followed by a fall tour of the U.S. and Canada. Confirmed dates follow; for a current list of shows go towww.jayhawksofficial.com.

SOUND OF LIES Track List:

1 The Man Who Loved Life 5:00

2 Think About It 5:37

3 Trouble 4:50

4 It's Up To You 3:38

5 Stick In The Mud 3:34

6 Big Star 4:25

7 Poor Little Fish 3:56

8 Sixteen Down 5:23

9 Haywire 5:21

10 Dying On The Vine 5:52

11 Bottomless Cup 4:14

12 Sound Of Lies 3:56

Bonus Tracks

13. I Hear You Cry 3:48*

14. Sleepyhead 3:29*

15. Kirby's Tune (studio outtake) 5:34**

16. It's Up To You (alternate version) 3:46**

17. Sound of Lies (rough mix) 4:34**

* previously commercially unavailable in the U.S.

** previously unreleased

SMILE Track list:

1. Smile 3:50

2. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me 3:40

3. What Led Me To This Town 4:10

4. Somewhere In Ohio 3:39

5. A Break In The Clouds 4:00

6. Queen Of The World 2:35

7. Life Floats By 4:43

8. Broken Harpoon 3:31

9. Pretty Thing 4:19

10. Mr. Wilson 4:27

11. (In My) Wildest Dreams 4:31

12. Better Days 4:36

13. Baby, Baby, Baby 5:24

Bonus Tracks

14. Who Made You King (studio outtake) 5:43*

15. Gypsy In The Mood (studio outtake) 1:18

16. A Part Of You (demo)  3:12**

17. Life's Little Ups And Downs (live) 4:55**

18. Greta Garbo (demo) *3:49*

19. Five Cornered Blues (demo) 4:01**
* previously commercially unavailable

** previously unreleased

RAINY DAY MUSIC Track list:

1 Stumbling Through The Dark 2:21

2 Tailspin 3:13

3 All The Right Reasons 3:21

4 Save It For A Rainy Day 3:03

5 Eyes Of Sarahjane 3:44

6 One Man’s Problem 4:02

7 Don’t Let The World Get In Your Way 4:16

8 Come To The River 4:25

9 Angelyne 3:40

10 Madman 4:00

11 You Look So Young 3:58

12 Tampa To Tulsa 3:57

13 Will I See You In Heaven 3:37

14 Stumbling Through The Dark (Reprise) 2:09

Bonus Tracks

15. Tailspin (“Inbred” version) (demo) 4:12*

16. Waiting For Salvation (demo) 4:02*

17. The Book You Wrote (demo) 3:10*

18. False Eyelashes (Blue-Eyed Soul) (demo) 3:00*

19. Won’t Last Long (demo) 3:17*

20. In the Canyon (live) 3:57*

* previously unreleased

THE JAYHAWKS CONFIRMED U.S. TOUR DATES (More to be announced!)

June 20           Americana Music Festival                   Des Moines, IA
Aug. 02            HazelFest                                            Center City, MN
Aug. 16            River Roots Festival                            Davenport, IA