Gary Louris is a founding member of Minnesota band the Jayhawks, who've been together for over 35 years. As a songwriter he's written some of the Jayhawks best-known songs as well as collaborating with many artists including The Chicks, Tedeschi-Trucks Band, Nickel Creek and Kelly Willis. He's also produced albums for his own band and others. We talked with Louris in advance of a rare solo show at Duluth's Sacred Heart Music Center about his songwriting, the livestreams he started doing during the pandemic, moving to Canada, his plans for a third solo album, and his brand new Christmas single, "Christmas in the City."
![A man on stage in a former church singing and playing guitar. There is a green light shining on the upper left corner of the photo.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/aa4ad3f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3024x4032+0+0/resize/880x1173!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fed%2F76%2Faf8cb1454a5f9d7f4167ec2dd1f0%2Fgary-louris-performs-at-sacred-heart-by-christine-dean.jpg)
Christine Dean