Finally, the Jayhawks’ ‘Bunkhouse’ debut is reissued

After years of listening to a Maxell XLII cassette recorded from the vinyl album, I am amazed at how good the new CD reissue of the Jayhawks debut album sounds. “The Bunkhouse album” is 24 years old, and while it sounds dated (musically and sonically), it is crisp and crackles with energy and promise.

The most amazing thing is that it exists at all. Long rumored (including last year when I interviewed Gary Louris), it finally sees the light of day as part of a miniature Jayhawks revival. It began last year with the reuniting of Louris and Mark Olson as a performing and recording duo, and continued with the two-CD best of/rarities set, Music from the North Country. Now, deluxe reissues of Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass are promised, and the band will play more shows.

But what about the new/old album? It sounds exactly like what it is: the first work of a young band still searching for an identity. There are flashes of the brilliance that would show up on The Blue Earth and come to full flower on Hollywood Town Hall, and well as genre pastiche that sounds more like a talented cover band than an original act.

“We must have been into old stuff,” writes Olson in the liner notes. “And I say this as a cautionary tale to those who want to wrap old clothes around their lives. It is other people’s stuff. Call the county and have them deliver a disposal container and rid yourselves of the junk. The only thing that you want to keep is the philosophy behind it…”

Of course, that’s exactly what the Jayhawks did. They kept the instrumental dexterity and the heavenly harmonies, and jettisoned the rest as they began to write Jayhawks songs rather than country songs. A lot of this would sound fine on The Blue Earth, and some of The Blue Earth would fit here. But by the time of Hollywood Town Hall, trifles like “Behind Bars,” “Cherry Pie” and “The Liquor Store Came First” would fall out of the setlist because they were derivative.

That doesn’t mean they weren’t fun. For what it is, the album is a romp from a band that would go on to do much, much better.