Mark Olson

When I grow up, I want a divorce as fortuitous as the one currently being enjoyed by Mark Olson and the Jayhawks, the alt-country superpower he helped found. Yielding more light than heat, both parties seem to be better off without one another. While the Jayhawks moved records with ever-glossier, poppier production until their 2005 break-up, Olson spent the last decade building anew his own shotgun shack, nail by rusted nail. His is a cozy sound, and his solo enterprise has seen him emerge with a lyrical insight that few might have expected from his work in the Jayhawks. Even in the thornier corners of his material, his breezy voice suggests a gleeful, indomitable grin. Sigh...both parties happily seeing other people, no need to cut the kids in half, the forbidden pleasure in outliving your ex.... Here's hoping we all get so lucky in love.
Sun., Feb. 10, 7 p.m., 2008