One of the great songwriters hits York next week, when Jayhawks’ founder and singer Mark Olson plays Fibbers.
This is the man who has left a major imprint on alt-country/Americana music, with towering milestones such as Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow The Green Grass.
After leaving The Jayhawks, Olson settled down in Joshua Tree, California, by the Mojave desert. In the following years released a string beautiful albums under the name Original Harmony Ridge Creek Dippers.
The poetic and redemptive 2007 solo debut The Salvation Blues and 2010 follow-up Many Colored Kite were inspired by months spent criss-crossing the Old Continent via the EuroRail.
That same year, after a 15-year hiatus, Olson wrote and recorded a reunion album, Mockingbird Time, with The Jayhawks, followed by two more years of touring the US and Europe.
Meanwhile, Mark found a new partner in life and music, the Norwegian singer and multi-instrumentalist Ingunn Ringvold, who recorded three classic albums for the Norwegian Voices of Wonder label, and guested on Mockingbird Time.
Ready to take the next step and to create his new album Good-bye Lizelle (Mojo Americana Album Of The Month, released on Glittershouse) Mark and Ingunn travelled from Armenia to South Africa, USA to Norway and Finland to Czech to record 11 poetical songs that feature guests such as Neal Casal, Aaron Sterling (Liz Phair, William Fitzsimmons), Danny Frankel (k.d. Lang, Rickie Lee Jones) and Oystein Greni of Norway’s number one rock band Big Bang.
Tim Hornsby of Fibbers says:
However, Mark Olson is far away from being retro. He gets to the core, the heart of each song, giving it the perfect arrangement and perfect instrumentation to convey the feel, the idea, and the warmth as intended.
Mark Olson is one of greatest songwriters of the last three decades, please welcome him to York!