Q&A: Mark Olson
With a Jayhawks tour wrapped up and the finishing touches placed on his second solo album, Mark Olson decided to hit the books -- in Norway. Olson moved to Norway for a few months to work with multi-instrumentalist Ingunn Ringvold, and found himself enrolled in an international summer school studying Scandinavian literature.
Studies completed, Olson and Ringvold will come to the States Aug. 27 to start a 21-city tour at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, CA. On the tour, Olson will perform songs from the new album, "Many Colored Kite," as well as tracks from the Jayhawks, the Original Harmony Ridge Creek Dippers and his first solo record, "The Salvation Blues."
Olson says Creek Dipper Mike Russell visited Olson at his home in the desert town of Joshua Tree, CA, "and we went over every Creek Dippers song to find the one or two I could go into even further. One is working really well."
From Oslo, Olson talked about those songs from his 25-year catalog, the effect of geography on records and songs, and how folk icon Vashti Bunyan wound up on his record even though he has never met her.
SoundSpike: Is the Oslo move permanent?
Mark Olson: No, I still have a cabin in Joshua Tree. I came here [in April] to get ready for the tour with Ingunn -- we've done about 250 shows over the last three years -- and got into the school. It's interesting because I'm around people from all over the world.
Is this record more Oslo or Joshua Tree?
With all of the touring -- about a year and a half -- when you [finish] you realize you're playing really well. You're singing, playing, improvising -- and thinking 'I never could play this good before.' So I kept playing. I went out to my cabin with some ideas and those ideas became songs. Most of the music was written in Joshua Tree, a few in Oslo.
Do you find geography plays a role in your writing?
There are a number of ways of working and I like to go into parks to write. I try to write outdoors and I really like the smell of grass. Living in the desert, where you can smell a lot of grass being cut, I really appreciated it. But you tend to get isolated in the desert, which is one reason to go elsewhere. So yes, where you're writing has an effect, but what you have to say based upon your life experiences is more important.
Your writing style is definitely different on this album than your reunion with Gary Louris of the Jayhawks on "Ready for the Flood" and the Creek Dippers. You latch onto phrases or certain words and repeat them, almost in a spiritual way. Was that intentional or am I just reading into it?
There was a conscious effort on my part [to incorporate that style]. When I sing in a live situation, if there's a line I like or a melody that's working, I repeat it. When we would work on these songs, we would end up repeating certain words, like a chant going around in a circular way. It felt like there was something that was really moving me.
When it came time to record, though, you wound up in Portland, OR, with Beau Raymond, who produced your album with Gary and did Devendra Banhart's album in Topanga Canyon. Why not stall in Southern California?
Beau, Ingunn and I went up to Portland and sought out inexpensive studios. We got time at two of them (Superdigital and Klickitat Band Camp). I didn't block off months to work on this album -- it would be four days of work at one and then three days off and then three days on at the other followed by more days off. We were always scouting around for the right place to record and at the cheapest time, so we got to learn Portland. Because we had a lot of down time, we were able to listen to a lot of the music and make decisions as we went along. "Beehive," "Your Life Beside Us" and "Morning Dove" -- we said we're going to keep these simple. There were three songs we wanted to capture with strings, so those form a unit and then there's a folk side with the campfire song "No Time to Live Without Her." That's the way we organized it.
The folk element is very strong throughout.
A lot of songs were recorded with just eight tracks. I always thought that when you add more tracks [per song], you take away from the record.
It feels like this was a significantly different way than you worked with the Jayhawks or the Creek Dippers.
And both of those were different from each other. Basically, with the Creek Dippers I went in with a guitar and we did more of a field recording. The scenario was we'd record real fast and then deal with making it presentable in a modern way. It was not high tech. The Jayhawks recorded with more tracks than I was attracted to, but I like the overall effect. I like to hear each track individually. You can't make out a lot of the individual instruments on modern recordings.
Did Beau bring in Vashti Bunyan, or are your friends with her as well?
Beau sent the song to her and she seemed to like the song -- she sent it back with five vocals. We just put one on top of the other, used her voice as kind of an effect. I had tried to have Ingunn sing with a British accent, but that didn't work. I had this part in my head, but it came out much better this way.
You were involved in the recent CD release of the first Jayhawks album (originally issued in 1986), which has more of the sparseness of "Many Colored Kite."
That was really refreshing -- for all of us. The first album is super fast, high-octane stuff.
Will you continue to play Jayhawks songs on the upcoming tour, or do you prefer to keep things separate?
We'll do one song from the first Jayhawks album ("Falling Star"), a song off ["Ready for the Flood"], a couple of Creek Dipper songs ("Someone to Talk With" the 2000 release "My Own Jo Ellen"). We've learned that Ingunn has to change instruments to keep the show interesting, so she plays an Indian harmonium in addition to the djembe. We traveled to London just to buy this one harmonium, and it's great for breaking up the sound.
What do you like about doing shows as a duo?
After playing so many shows, we're trying to move into the world between folk and rock. But where is that audience? How will they find us? That's our goal, because I feel like that's the future. It's not going to be about big bands touring. It's small groups being able to carry their own gear and doing a multifaceted show in a small place. It's a financial reality.
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27 - Santa Monica, CA - McCabe's Guitar Shop
September 2010
7 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe du Nord
9 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
10 - Seattle, WA- The Triple Door
11 - Bellingham, WA - Green Frog Cafe Acoustic Tavern
12 - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
14 - Duluth, MN- Pizza Luce
15 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
16 - Milwaukee, WI - Club Garibaldi
17 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's
18 - Louisville, KY - The Rudyard Kipling
19 - St. Louis, MO - The Old Rock House
21 - Easton, MD - Nightcat
22 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafeé Live
23 - Vienna, VA - Jammin' Java
24 - New York, NY - Joe's Pub
26 - Cambridge, MA - Club Passim
25 - Northampton, MA- Iron Horse Music Hall
27 - Portland, ME - Online Longfellow Square
28 - Ithaca, NY - Wildfire Lounge
29 - Brooklyn, NY- The Rock Shop
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