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Mark Olson bringing personal songs to Cedar Rapids

By Steven Horowitz

Mark Olson last performed in the Corridor region at the Mill in Iowa City during August 2007. Ably backed by a trio of international musicians, Olson blew the crowd away with a blistering set of personal songs, mostly from his latest album, Salvation Blues.

The only problem was the small size of the audience. Olson bitterly complained after the show that “if only I picked up a bar band and called ourselves the Jayhawks Part 2, we’d pack the house.” That may have been true. The Jayhawks were once the object of a bidding war between the newly formed Yacht Club and Gabe’s back in the day.

Olson was a founding member of the pioneering alt-country rock group in 1985, but he left the band ten years later during the height of its greatest commercial success to pursue his own vision. He formed the Original Harmony Creek Dippers with his wife Victoria Williams and friend fiddler Mike Russel and self-released a series of critically-acclaimed, quirky and wistful records.

After his marriage and his band broke up in 2006, Olson roamed across the globe. “I used to be homeless,” Olson joked over the telephone from his home in Joshua Tree, California, “but I got a place now.” You might not know this from his busy touring schedule. From Feb. 4 through Feb. 23 Olson will play 19 separate gigs in towns from Portland, OR to Madison, WI to Austin, TX to Baton Rouge, LA, with a date at CSPS in Cedar Rapids tonight at 8 p.m. midway through the tour.

“I enjoy playing live,” Olson said. “The tour might continue and I’ll come back on the rebound.” His verbal expression suggests a much happier man than the one that played Iowa City back in August. Olson’s solo album garnered many positive reviews and the crowds at his shows have grown bigger.

“Salvation Blues was the first record I made by myself. I spent 8 months building a collection of songs with just me and my guitar. I was used to have someone to play off of, but this was a different and a scary experience,” Olson said. The album has a plaintive and reflective sensibility that revealed the artist’s intimate state of mind with songs about his father’s suicide, the breakup of his marriage and other personal topics.

“It’s not really a dark record,” Olson said. Indeed as the title suggests, the singer has found salvation and redemption. The live performances of the music convey a lively exuberance.

Olson will tour as part of a trio this time, with the aid of the same Italian violin player and Norwegian singer/percussionist/pianist who joined him on his earlier visit. He looks forward to performing at a venue other than a bar during the middle of the week.

“I’m just like most people. I got nothing against being in a bar on the weekend, but every day is just too much,” Olson said. “Plus, you get a different kind of crowd, and I like to mix it up.” Olson noted that American audiences tended to be a little older and more sedate than those found in Europe.

“I came out of a folk tradition, listening to Woody Guthrie,” Olson said. He professed a love for Iowa folk music and expressed a special fondness for the work of Dave Moore. He noted that folk musicians continue to play and improve as they get older.

“Then I heard The Replacements, and they rocked the whole Minneapolis scene, including the Jayhawks. I became much more of a rock and roller. My music is somewhat folk, part country, part rock. I enjoy performing for audiences that can appreciate all kinds of music,” Olson said.

“All I care is that there is someone to play for,” he said. “I am not a snob about the age of the listener.”

This time there should be a bigger crowd to appreciate Olson and his band.