He sought out a venue that was interested in hearing the blend of rock, country, blues and folk that was running through his mind. “We decided to put together a country style band, and we found a bar that would let us play. And that’s kind of how The Jayhawks started out,” Olson chuckles.
Olson had grown up on the sounds of his parents’ folk music collection. “My mother had the Buffy St Marie album, and we listened to Dylan and whatever was on the radio,” Olson says. “I loved the idea of folk music – I loved the idea of sitting around with the guitar and writing and playing music.”
Olson got to know fellow Jayhawk Gary Louris through his rockabilly band. “I’d played in a rockabilly band, and he was also in a rockabilly band. I knew he was a good singer, and a great guitarist,” Olson recalls. The pair formed The Jayhawks, who became a progenitor of the fledgling alt.country movement. “I think all the artists who’re associated with the alt.country movement have a real interest in playing music,” Olson figures, when asked whether he has a definition of alt.country. “People have a genuine interest in getting a guitar and playing music,” he says. “They’re involved in music, for more than just listening.”
After 12 years with The Jayhawks, Olson left the band, forming The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers with his then-wife Victoria Williams, before embarking on a solo career. “I had twelve years in that group, and in that period of time I didn’t see the goal that I wanted, which was to play folk music” Olson says. A couple of years ago Olson teamed up with Louris for the first time in over ten years when the duo released the Ready For The Flood album.
While his lyrics exhibit a discernible literary tone, Olson says he doesn’t write his lyrics expecting them to stand alone as a literary creation. “When I write my lyrics I think of something I’ve seen in life. Lyrics give me a way of looking outside of myself. I try and look at thing that have happened, and write between something that’s happened and an idea,” Olson explains.
In recent years Olson has spent a considerable amount of time in Europe, enjoying and imbibing the European folk scene. “It’s a big melting pot,” he muses. “You get to see people doing things in completely different ways. You see people tuning their guitar in a different way, and you realise that people in the U.S. are stuck in the same style.”
This week Olson is in town for a solo show at The Northcote Social Club. With a new Jayhawks record due out in September, Olson plans to be back in Australia with The Jayhawks in the next twelve months. “Australia is definitely on the cards,” he nods. “Since September last year I’ve been doing both solo and Jayhawks shows. I think the past few years have some of my best songs. I’ve released four albums – I’ve really been cranking it out.”
