| Tomorrow the Green Grass | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 14, 1995 | |||
| Genre | Alternative country, alternative rock | |||
| Length | 46:27 | |||
| Label | American | |||
| Producer | George Drakoulias | |||
| The Jayhawks chronology | ||||
| ||||
Tomorrow the Green Grass is the fourth studio album by American rock band The Jayhawks, released on February 14, 1995. It peaked at number 92 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Tomorrow the Green Grass was the band's first album to feature keyboardist Karen Grotberg as a group member, as well as their last release with singer-songwriter Mark Olson. [1]
"Miss Williams' Guitar" was written as a tribute to Victoria Williams, Olson's wife. [2] He would later leave The Jayhawks and form The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers with Williams. The song "Bad Time" is a cover of a Grand Funk Railroad song from All the Girls in the World Beware!!!
The album's title track was used in the closing credits of the 1995 film National Lampoon's Senior Trip , but was not included on the original edition of the album itself.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Chicago Tribune | [3] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− [4] |
| Los Angeles Times | [2] |
| NME | 7/10 [5] |
| Pitchfork | 7.1/10 [6] |
| Q |  [7] |
| Rolling Stone | [8] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [9] |
| Spin | 7/10 [10] |
Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly praised the album as being "everything a country-rock album should be" and stated that "even those who normally can't stand the genre are likely to be seduced by the plaintive vocal harmonies, pristine melodies, and scrappy-but-lyrical guitar solos". [4] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote that the album's "wider-ranging arrangements and instrumentation (strings, violin, keyboards) make the band seem less one-dimensional and studied than before." [3] The NME stated that Mark Olson and Gary Louris' vocal harmonies "attain that upliftingly sad tinge of gospel that was once the heavenly terrain of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris", [5] while Q wrote that Olson and Louris "lead their slightly expanded six-piece band through a string of beautifully bracing folk-tinged pop songs stunning in their simplicity". [7] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a one-star honorable mention rating, indicating "a worthy effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like", and called the album "always sincere, never wimpy". [11] [12]
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, critic Jason Ankeny wrote that "if Hollywood Town Hall is inarguably the Jayhawks' best album, Tomorrow the Green Grass runs a very close second", noting that the album's "eclectic approach pointed the way to the sound and style of the fine records the Louris-led version of the band would go on to make" following Mark Olson's departure. [1] Stephen M. Deusner of Pitchfork stated that the album showcases "a looser, more experimental tack" but runs "one or two tracks too long, a generous gesture that nevertheless lessens its impact, making it an uneven follow-up to Hollywood Town Hall". [6]
All songs written by Mark Olson and Gary Louris except as noted.
Released fall 1995.
Tracks 1 & 2 recorded for 2 Meter Session (VARA/NPS Holland)
Tracks 3 & 4 taken from the "Bad Time" single
Tracks 5 & 6 taken from the "Blue" single
Tracks 7 & 8 taken from the "Waiting For The Sun" single
Track 9 taken from the European release of the Hollywood Town Hall CD
All songs written by Mark Olson and Gary Louris except as noted.
Disc 1:
Disc 2 "The Mystery Demos" (all tracks previously unreleased):
1–10 are from demos, February 6, 1992
11–18 are from acoustic demos with George Drakoulias, 10-92
Victoria Williams is an American singer, songwriter and musician, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 1990s, Williams was the catalyst for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.
The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Twin Cities music scene during the mid-1980s. Led by vocalists, guitarists and songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson, its country rock sound was influential on many bands who played the Twin Cities circuit during the 1980s and 1990s like Uncle Tupelo, the Gear Daddies and the Honeydogs. They have released eleven studio albums with and without Olson who left the band in 1995, including five on the American Recordings label. On hiatus from 2005 to 2009, the 1995 lineup of the band reunited, releasing the album, Mockingbird Time, in September 2011. After the tour, Olson again left the band. After another hiatus in 2013, the 1997 lineup led by Louris reunited to play shows in 2014 to support the reissue of three albums released between 1997 and 2003. The band has remained active touring and recording since, including the release of the albums Live at The Belly Up in 2015, Paging Mr. Proust, produced by Peter Buck in 2016, Back Roads and Abandoned Motels in 2018 and XOXO in 2020.
Gary Louris is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter of alternative country and pop music. He was a founding member of the Minneapolis-based band the Jayhawks and their principal songwriter and vocalist after the departure of Mark Olson. Louris is often credited with the band's subsequent move from folk-country toward a more progressive, pop sound.
You Gotta Sin to Get Saved is the second album by American singer-songwriter Maria McKee, released in 1993. The album includes two Van Morrison covers and a take on Goffin/King's "I Can't Make It Alone" first recorded by P.J. Proby.
On Golden Smog was the debut EP from American band Golden Smog, released in 1992.
Down by the Old Mainstream was American Alternative country band Golden Smog's first full-length album, released in 1995. Its title is from a line in both the Wilco song, "Someday Soon" from the album, Being There, and from "Radio King," the last track on this album.
Hollywood Town Hall is the third studio album by American rock band The Jayhawks. It peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and number 192 on the Billboard 200. The cover art for the album was shot in Hollywood Township, Carver County, Minnesota by British photographer Andrew Catlin.
Sound of Lies is the fifth studio album by American rock band The Jayhawks. It peaked at number 112 on the Billboard 200.
Smile is the sixth studio album by American rock band The Jayhawks, released on May 9, 2000. It reached number 129 on the Billboard 200 and number 14 on Billboard's Top Internet Albums chart.
Rainy Day Music is the seventh studio album by American rock band The Jayhawks, released on April 8, 2003. It debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 51, selling 19,000 copies that week.
Mark Olson is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of alternative country bands the Jayhawks and the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers.
Blue Earth is a studio album by American alt country and alt rock band The Jayhawks, released in 1989.
The Jayhawks is a 1986 album by The Jayhawks. It is also known as the Bunkhouse Tapes. The 1986 pressing was limited to 2,000 copies.
Vagabonds is the first solo album by American singer/songwriter and Jayhawks member Gary Louris, released in 2008.
Ready for the Flood is an album by former Jayhawks bandmates Mark Olson and Gary Louris, released in Europe on December 1, 2008, and in the US on January 29, 2009. It was their first collaboration since Olson had left the band in 1995.
Music From The North Country – The Jayhawks Anthology is a compilation album by The Jayhawks, released in 2009.
Mockingbird Time is the eighth studio album by the alt country band The Jayhawks, released on September 20, 2011. The album marked the returns of the original front man Mark Olson, who had left the group in 1995 after the release of Tomorrow the Green Grass, and long-time keyboard player Karen Grotberg. Mockingbird Time was the first new studio album by The Jayhawks since 2003's Rainy Day Music. The album entered the Billboard 200 album chart at #38, becoming the highest-charting release of their career to date. It also charted at #2 on Billboard's Folk Albums chart, #6 on the Tastemaker Albums chart, and #11 on the Rock Albums chart.
Live at the Belly Up is a digital-only live album recorded in January 2015 by The Jayhawks, released on February 10, 2015 as an exclusive download from the Belly Up Live website. The album went into wider digital release in April 2015 including a high-resolution audio version.
Paging Mr. Proust is the ninth studio album by the alt country band The Jayhawks, released in 2016.
Back Roads and Abandoned Motels is the tenth studio album by the alt country band The Jayhawks, released on July 13, 2018.
