Goodbye Lizelle

Jayhawks co-founder and singer Mark Olson has left a strong and lasting imprint on alternative country and Americana like few other figures in the genres' history. Milestones such as Hollywood Townhall 1991 and Tomorrow the Green Grass 1995 are timeless masterpieces of American music. Olson left The Jayhawks after Tomorrow the Green Grass and settled down with his wife at the time, Victoria Williams, in Joshua Tree, CA, next to the Mojave Desert. In the following years he released a string beautiful albums under the name Original Harmony Ridge Creek Dippers. The poetic and redemptive 2007 solo debut The Salvation Blues and the 2010 follow-up Many Colored Kite were inspired by months spent crisscrossing the Old Continent via the EuroRail. Also in 2010, 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 U.S. and Europe. Meanwhile, Olson found a new partner in life and music, the Norwegian singer and multi-instrumentalist Ingunn Ringvold, who recorded three classy albums under the moniker Sailorine for the Norwegian Voices of Wonder label, and guested on Mockingbird Time. To take the next step, and record Good-bye Lizelle, Olson and Ringvold travelled from Armenia to South Africa, USA to Norway, and Finland to the Czech Republic, to record 11 poetic songs featuring guests such as Neal Casal, Aaron Sterling Liz Phair, William Fitzsimmons, Danny Frankel k.d. lang, Rickie Lee Jones, and Oystein Greni of the Norwegian rock band BigBang. Good-bye Lizelle was recorded in apartments, cabins, and outdoors in national parks, using Olson's Nagra portable recording system to create a homemade, somehow vintage, and warm sonic atmosphere. Listening to the album, one can only admit that Olson completely succeeded: there are more than just hints of the classic Laurel Canyon feel that made the early Joni Mitchell or Graham Nash albums so outstanding. However, Mark Olson is by no means retro; it's more that he wants to get to the core the heart of each song, giving it the perfect arrangement and perfect instrumentation to transport the feel, the idea, and the warmth as intended. Good-bye Lizelle consists of 11 perfectly crafted pieces, each a story of it's own. In-depth songs in a timeless sound, benefitting from Ringvold's gorgeous duet and harmony vocals, and obviously lyrically in a class of it's own. LP version includes CD.