Tuesday 2/18: Gary Louris – Dark Country

It’s the 3^rd solo album from the Jayhawks frontman, with an emphasis on solo: there are a few other artists here and there, including occasional Jayhawk Stephen McCarthy (The Long Ryders) on guitars and pedal steel, and Eleanor Whitmore of The Mastersons who arranged and played the string section on one song. But it’s mostly the guitar and piano work of Louris you hear here, adding to the intimacy expressed in the songs themselves. “It is a love letter to my wife Steph, plain and simple. It was written and recorded in my little studio in our home in the mountains of Quebec. It is the most intimate and straight forward record I have ever made. Period. Just me in a room with my songs and you the listener. I am not typically an autobiographical lyricist, but these songs are as literal as can be… all directed to my love.”