The Jayhawks family tree: From Gary Louris to the Jonas Brothers in three moves or less

By Andrea Swensson Fri., Jan. 28 2011 at 3:34 PM

We're pretty damn excited about this weekend's back-to-back Jayhawks shows at First Avenue, which will find the reunited band revisiting their two most seminal albums, Tomorrow the Green Grass and Hollywood Town Hall.

In anticipation of the shows this weekend, we thought it would be fun to see just how many bands we could connect to the current and past members of the Jayhawks. This isn't a comprehensive chart by any means, but rather a starting point for those who may not know how much the Jayhawks of past and present are intertwined into our sometimes incestuous local scene and can be traced to larger mainstream bands -- including, yes, the Jonas Brothers.

Click the thumbnail to enlarge and read!

Tags:

Gary Louris, Jonas Brothers, Marc Perlman, Mark Olson, The Jayhawks

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Josh

Pablo Lousearama, you should be connected to Paul Westerberg then Paul Westerberg should be connected to The Leatherwoods and Granpaboy. Come on, what kind of family tree is this!!

Reed Fischer

Allow me to reiterate: "This isn't a comprehensive chart by any means, but rather a starting point for those who may not know how much the Jayhawks of past and present are intertwined into our sometimes incestuous local scene and can be traced to larger mainstream bands."

But these are indeed good suggestions, thank you for making them.

Robroberge

Fun family tree...and I love the Jayhawks...

BUT...The Replacements are NOT a "National Act" but a "Major Local Act"? That's insane. While they didn't have huge sales, they are among the most influential bands of the 80's, and they were on a major label (for their last 3 records). They were one of the most acclaimed bands of their era (in the NATIONAL press). They were on the cover of "Musician" magazine (hardly, in 1989, a local rag). They sold more albums/cds, for instance, than The Velvet Underground. Are the Velvet Underground a "major local act" from New York?

And, while I'm not a fan of Soul Asylum, they had a GOLD record on a Major Label. How are they not a "National Act"?

I love Wilco, but their best-selling album sold fewer numbers than Soul Asylum's best seller (which I find sad, but it's a fact).

How were these "local" v "national" designations arrived at?

But, again--thanks for bringing more attention to the Jayhawks. The two albums mentioned, plus their last indie one (prior to HOLLYWOOD TOWN HALL), THE BLUE EARTH (arguably their best) are great stuff.

Jtlaurie

We're just pulling your chain Andrea

Drunk Old Man

Yep, you left out a whole bunch of bands. PRIMARILY, you left out a rockabilly band that Louris was in before joining the Jayhawks, Safety Last, a band that has been around since the beginning of time, lasting through several rockabilly revivals and still playing, thus outlasting every other rockabilly band around here, no matter how high the other bands' pompadours were, and despite the authenticity of all those other dead bands' bowling shirts. I know music writing is mostly done by kids who don't have any memory of anything beyond the last five years, but this is kind of an atrocious oversight. Oh well.

Guest

You forgot a LOT of bands that should be on this list. Pretty selective memories at work here.

Doublebourbonmanhattan

What about all of the artists Gary Louris co wrote with and whose work he produced?

Herle

paul buckmaster did the arrangement on Blue, and he was the arranger on the the early elton john albums - widens your graph considerably

Where's Razz????

Matthew

You also seemed to miss that Ryan Liestman (lead singer of local band The Rule) is a full-time member of the Jonas Brothers as their keyboardist/background vocalist. I'm surprised that fairly obvious connection was missed.

Pablo Lousearama

Nice first draft, but...

No Eric Heywood? Was with Karen in The Ranchtones and connected to Son Volt.

No connection of Stephen McCarthy to the Long Ryders?!!

No connection to Polara (featuring Peter Anderson and, recently, Perlman)?

No connection of Kraig Johnson to Joseph Arthur? Or mention of Kraig Johnson and The Program (which featured Perlman, Boquist, Peter Anderson and Ed Ackerson from Polara)

Good thing you got Liminal Phase in there. :)