Gary Louris was a founding member of The Jayhawks, but it could be argued that he's been doing his best work since the band went on "indefinite hiatus" in 2005. He has a superb voice, smoky but warm -- yet even he admits he's not the loudest, most arresting guy out there. That doesn't matter on this 2008 album; in fact, Louris' unassuming nature works to the songs' advantage. They're all beautiful tunes, and his delivery of them is refreshing because you can't hear an ounce of ego.
The opening track, "True Blue," is so gorgeous and sad that I can't stop listening to it. It's one of those great singer/songwriter tracks that comes along once every few years if that. I'd rank it with some of my other all-time favorites, including Jackson Browne's "For Everyman," Bruce Cockburn's "Tokyo" and Bruce Springsteen's "Devils and Dust." It's both quiet and monumental at the same time.
"Vagabonds," the title track, is another winner, as is "D.C. Blues." In fact, there's not a bad track on the album, although my least favorite, "Omaha Nights," sounds a bit overproduced compared to everything else here. But I can forgive that one. All I have to do is listen again to "True Blue." If you don't get chills when the backing vocals come up on the chorus, or during the lovely pedal steel guitar solo -- well, then, I just can't imagine you like music at all.
In an interview when the album was released, Louris talked about how it felt good at the time to go the rootsy route on this record, instead of using loops and synths and stuff. I'm glad he did, and also glad the players recorded live in the studio. You can hear them pulling together to make every moment count for something. As Louris sings on "True Blue," "strip it down to what you can believe in / pass it on, what is right and true blue." He and his cohorts have done that here, and the result is unforgettable.