It’s easy to get lost in the fact that the Jayhawks made rootsy Neil Young-inspired country/rock accessible to a new generation of fans.  The group’s seminal Hollywood Town Hall album may not have made The Jayhawks stars but it did announce the arrival of a band that mattered and what’s interesting upon listening this album, The Jayhawks (The Bunkhouse Album) is how much more ‘country’ it sounds than what came out later.  “Falling Star” is an early showcase for the Gary Louris/Mark Olsen collaboration that would go on to become ‘otherworldly’ by the time 1992’s Town Hall came  along.

This album, lovingly referred to as The Bunkhouse Album after the label that was founded to release this album on a limited basis in 1986, harkens back to Graham Parsons (“Behind Bars”) and even Everly Brothers (“Tried and True”) in places with a little Dylan thrown in for good measure (“Let The Critics Wonder”).  While the influences are obvious on this record, this Minneapolis-based band (in 1986) certainly proved their mettle.  Last year the group released an anthology ‘best-of’ set that featured a couple of tracks from this record and while it is true that the titles feel as inspired by other bands as the sonic sounds themselves,  The Jayhawks (The Bunkhouse Album) is still very much an album worth listening to as it showcases a young band ready to blossom into one of the best bands of the 1990s and 2000s (even if they went through multiple member changes).

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