Gary Louris (The Jayhawks) courtesy Tim Geaney.

Gary Louris has, off and on since the late 1980s, been one of the mainstays of The Jayhawks, a band that earned its initial fame as an Americana outfit but that, especially since the departure of cofounder Mark Olson, has increasingly gone in a more pop-oriented direction.

The once and maybe future architect collaborated with a variety of notable musicians as a player, songwriter and producer, including the Dixie Chicks, Ray Davies and Jakob Dylan. Yet, Jump for Joy is just Louris’ second solo album. The voice is familiar to Jayhawks fans, of course, but most of these new songs don’t sound like they would fit on one of that band’s albums.

Gary Louris makes it plain that he’s always been about more than the roots-band sound for which he’s best known, and that he plans to make music even more diverse in the future.

RIFF: You created Jump for Joy essentially during the pandemic, correct? Did some of these songs come from ideas that you had earlier that didn’t necessarily work as Jayhawks songs?

Gary Louris: This record was written and recorded prior to the pandemic. It is NOT a pandemic record. Two of the songs, “Too Late The Key” and “Dead Man’s Burden,” were written and submitted for The Jayhawks’ Paging Mr. Proust record in 2015, but just didn’t fit the band and the vibe. One song, “New Normal,” was recorded way back in 2009. The rest were composed and recorded in 2018. Typically when I sit down to write, I do not have a target, such as “this is going to be a Jayhawks song” or “this will be for my solo record.” The songs seem to sort themselves out and find where they belong.

What were the upsides of doing everything yourself on this album? And what were the drawbacks of not collaborating or playing off other band members?

Gary Louris: Yes, the entire record was performed and produced by me. The advantages? Total control. Freedom. No budget constraints. No scheduling constraints. No egos (except my own, which is substantial!) It is liberating to know that one can get up in the morning, robe and slippers, and walk into a little room and create a sonic landscape without booking hotels, flights, studio time and musicians. That is very powerful.

And being responsible for all aspects of a recording is a very hands-on experience… You can’t rely on others, you have to learn to do everything yourself, including the engineering. Sitting on the sofa in the back of the control room, watching the back of an engineer, is incredibly boring.

Drawbacks? Definitely, you lose the synergy of other players and personalities. You lose the experience and guiding hand of a really good producer, and I have worked with some of the best. You lose the expertise of a really good engineer, and you lose the sound you might get from a really good studio. But the days of big budget records and fat producer fees are over for most musicians, because people just don’t pay for music anymore, and that trickles down to the way artists create. One has to be leaner and meaner, which in some ways is a plus, and in other ways not.

A few songs on Jump for Joy—”Living in Between” and “Follow,” in particular—have a delightful distinctly ’60s pop feel to them. Is this a direction you plan to pursue further?

Gary Louris: The only thing I am pursuing is the purity of creating. I admire artists who cannot be typecast. I have always been a pop musician at heart, and I do have an affinity for ’60s and ’70s music. That is what I cut my teeth on and that will be forever ingrained in my DNA. Roots music entered into my musical palette only later in life, and to my ears my songs are still pop structures with some traditional frosting on top. British-influenced pop songs with an American sheen; that is me in a nutshell. However, I am also fascinated by prog-rock and electronic music. I’d love to do it all, and I plan to.

“Ace” from Paging Mr. Proust notwithstanding, do you see some of the musical aspects to this album—the electronic touches, for instance—surfacing on a future Jayhawks album?

Gary Louris: I personally LOVE working with the mechanistic feel of an arpeggiated synthesizer. I love locking everything onto a grid and looping things into a trance-like, kraut-rock non-song. I think it counterbalances the loose swing of the band. There are times I have introduced electronic touches into the Jayhawks’ music. However, as a collective I don’t feel that is the sweet spot for us. That is why I get my prog-rock ya-ya’s out on my solo records, which there will be more of in the not-too-distant future.

What do you most want the music-listening world to learn about you from Jump for Joy?

Gary Louris: I want the world to know that Gary Louris is more than an “Americana” roots-rocker. (Not that there is anything wrong with that!) I’d love to see my music used in film, TV, gaming and any other usage that is beyond the world of streaming and radio.

On “Living in Between,” you sing of being “a simple man in a complicated world.” Having followed the Jayhawks for many years, my impression of you is one of a fairly complicated fellow. Is “simple” or “complicated” closer to the real Gary Louris?

Gary Louris: I think I am a fairly complicated person (ask my wife!) I am forever trying to simplify my life, my outlook, my world … but it has been a struggle. That is the message in “Living In Between,” by this point in my life I should have more of a concrete personal philosophy, a more definitive outlook and belief system. Instead, I am constantly in flux and I have to scramble if someone were to ask me, “What do you believe in?”

Do you see a solo Gary Louris tour in your relatively near future? It’s been hard enough to schedule Jayhawks shows, given the state of the world.

Gary Louris: At this point in my life I want to tour, but on my own terms. No more six weeks on a bus tour for me (or The Jayhawks, for that matter). However, after cutting back to a trickle, I found I missed touring, so yes I will be playing when things are opened up, both solo and with The Jayhawks. Besides, I am recently married and my wife wants to see the world with me, so it is exciting to show her my world, and not leaving someone behind makes travel even more appealing. In the meantime, check out my performances on my Patreon page. Shameless plug!

During the pandemic, have you at any point found yourself doing any recreational architecture?

Gary Louris: You have done your homework. Yes, I was an architect before I turned professional musician in 1991. My architect skills are pretty rusty. When I stopped practicing the computer program for architecture, CAD, was just emerging! I was sitting at a drafting board physically drawing and running blueprint machines, so it has been awhile. However, my wife and I are actively looking to buy or build a house, and whether it is a redesign, a renovation or a new design, I am hoping to revive those design skills soon. I often think what it would have been like if I would have stayed the course in architecture, and I still entertain doing some “recreational architecture” from here on out.

I am teaching a course on songwriting with the Chicago-based Old Town School Of Folk Music and one of the aspects of writing and creating that I speak of is the common thread between writing a song and designing a house, so I suppose I have been practicing architecture a bit through my music all these years.