I was at a Jayhawks show just as they were breaking up the first time...the Marc Olsen/Gary Louris configuration. Sunday night at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Gary Louris at one point came down to apologize and promised that they would be out soon. It took well over an hour before they did. It was a great show, but they broke up just after that. Fortunately, Louris re-formed the band without Marc Olsen and they made a few terrific albums after that. It was a different band, though.
One of Damien's techniques is to hold back a musical element until the most emotionally powerful moment possible. He builds suspense by keeping the drums or the cello at bay. Lisa was part of that, as she often provided fills or harmonies at just the right point to push a song into a whole other dimension. He won't have that anymore.
I saw him perform in Santa Barbara at the Sings Like Hell. It was just Damien and it was good...but not Henry Fonda or the Troubadour, not by a long shot. I can still hear Lisa's voice, almost note for note, in my memory as she sang on Eskimo.
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