As Music Remedy reports, former Jayhawks member Mark Olson will release his follow-up to 2007’s Salvation Blues this summer via his new label, Rykodisc. While a new record from an alt-country giant is great news around here in and of itself, a few details in the press release particularly caught my eye...
For Many Colored Kite, the first release since his 2008 collaboration with fellow founding Jayhawk Gary Louris, Olson tapped drummer Danny Frankel, singer Ingunn Ringvold (his girlfriend), and Neal Casal, photographer, solo artist and guitarist in Ryan Adams’ former band the Cardinals. What’s more, opening track “Little Bird of Freedom” features guest vocals by Jolie Holland, while two other cuts, “No Time to Live Without Her” and “Blue Bell,” feature English folk veteran Vashti Bunyan.
Olson’s account of his celebration after Ryko initiated the record deal made me smile:
[I] started a small dance that was interrupted by a large gem and mineral collection. I realized I didn`t really want to be building a geology museum anymore I wanted to start a band again. I threw the petrified wood and geodes off the porch and into the sand. I called Ingunn and said “You’re the band and now let’s leave our jobs and be able to take the trains again and tour with this music.”
Many Colored Kite will hit shelves on July 27.