The Jayhawks at the Bearsville Center in Woodstock with Tommy Stinson on October 25 2024
The Jayhawks cut it close making it to the Bearsville Center in Woodstock, NY after their rental vehicle broke down. It was a rough start having a short time for the soundcheck. Tim O’Reagan slipped out to the stage early, almost undetected, to ensure his drums and setlist were in order. The stage lights were a bit too flashy and bright, it turned out, and Gary starting out on “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” playing the harmonica backwards, early signs of the tolls of life on the road this go-around. The Jayhawks persevered, playing an amazing 22-song set that included new material, choice covers, deep cuts, and familiar classics in an unplugged-style setting and Americana Highways was there. The audience got a triple dose of new songs. “Kingston Girl,” “Leap of Faith,” and “Talking in Your Sleep.” Since last winter, new songs are occasionally appearing on Jayhawks setlists, but three during a show is a rarity, and a treat for fans looking for new Jayhawks material, which apparently will be coming in 2025 along with a Gary Louris solo album.
During this performance, there were covers of songs by Bob Dylan and The Byrds, and incredibly, on Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” Marc Perlman was lead vox! That’s another rarity. For hardcore fans, the appearance of a Dylan song is a reminder of the name origin for The Jayhawks. It was inspired by Dylan’s backing band The Hawks.
For most of the night, Gary played acoustic guitar, only bringing out his (“Number One”) signature brick-red SG Standard for the final electric portion of the night beginning with “Tailspin.” Stoic multi-instrumentalist Marc Perlman played mandolin, acoustic guitar, and bass on a number of songs, and drummer Tim O’Reagan and keyboardist Karen Grotberg were their solid stalwart selves, humbly keeping the music grounded and groovy.
Although palpably flustered by the day’s earlier events, The Jayhawks played a dynamic and intimate set, with Gary keeping a running commentary with the audience and his fellow band members. At one point before “Everybody Knows,” a song he wrote with The (Dixie) Chicks, he marveled about their controversy with then President Bush, saying how ridiculous it seems compared to today’s present political climate and praised his newfound home in Quebec, but then quickly declared, “No politics, we’re here to have fun.” With the challenges the band encountered, it seemed highly appropriate “Pray For Me” from 1995’s Tomorrow The Green Grass makes it into the evening performance.
The audience sang along with a number of their classic tunes, including the staple “Blue,” prompting Gary to confess that “it always feels great when you sing along.” Coming out for the encore alone, Gary was going to play an acoustic song by Jeff Tweedy, but serendipitously decided against it when discovering the guitar was not in tune, and brought the band out for “Save it for a Rainy Day,” a crowd favorite – spurring Marc to turn his microphone around to the audience as they sang the “so sad…” backing vocal in the chorus. When the song was finished, Gary – having had trouble with the rickety and persnickety device all night – inadvertently tossed his harmonica holder to the back of the stage, asking, “Does Woodstock still have a music store? I’ll need to get another one before tomorrow night.” The band launched right into “I’d Run Away,” and ended the night with their rousing cover of Grand Funk’s “Bad Time,” before Gary cheekily pronouncing “Thank you for listening to our rehearsal,” waving to the enthusiastic crowd as the band left the stage.
Although The Jayhawks may not have had the smoothest night, the patrons certainly enjoyed this unique performance. Many thanks to Lizzie Van for purchasing the Bearsville complex in 2019 and funding the extensive restoration for the reopening back in June. Now this 18th century Dutch barn will continue as a cultural institution with its rustic charm in the Catskills and Hudson Valley region.
Former Minnesotan (now a Hudson Valley resident) and renown Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson opened the night with an acoustic set of his solo material. Stinson was his formidable yet personable self, at one point telling the rapt audience “I have no stories to tell, it’s just f*ckin’ me up here.” He explained, “I never have a setlist. It beats snorting Prednisone to remember.”
After an apparent mishap, he confessed, “I’ve been doing this a long time, but I still f*ck up every now and then.” He had the crowd sing out the missing guitar riff to “Breathing Room” (which he taught them prior to playing), and in the middle of another song, he told the crowd to “imagine a great solo right here” while he strummed away at the main chords.
Stinson introduced “Shortcut” as his “second oldest song” that he “wrote in L.A. in 1993, and which came out with Bash & Pop in 2017.”
Stinson’s lively, angst-ridden, and heart-felt 10-song set got the crowd in great spirits, providing an apt segue into his fellow Minnesotan band’s show.
JAYHAWKS SETLIST
I’m Gonna Make You Love
Forgotten Town
Living in a Bubble
Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man (Byrds Cover)
Tampa to Tulsa
Kingston Girl (new tune)
Sound of Lies
Blue
Angelyne
Leap of Faith (new tune)
Everybody Knows
All the Right Reasons
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (Bob Dylan cover sung by Marc Perlman)
Talking in Your Sleep (new tune)
Tailspin
Two Angels
Pray For Me
Waiting for the Sun
Sister Cry
ENCORES:
Save it for a Rainy Day
I’d Runaway
Bad Time
Tommy Stinson SETLIST
Match Made in Hell
Anybody Else
Fall Apart Together
Nothing
Hey Man
Breathing Room
Light Of Day
Shortcut
He Means It
First Steps