Mark Olson

Mark Olson co-founded two bands central to American alternative country: The Jayhawks and the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1961, he began as a singer-songwriter rooted in folk and country traditions, and his partnerships with Gary Louris and Victoria Williams have run through much of what followed. Those collaborations explain why his name keeps resurfacing in conversations about the genre.

The Jayhawks formed in 1985 with Gary Louris, and Olson was initially their principal songwriter. Their Def American debut, Hollywood Town Hall, arrived in 1992, followed in 1995 by Tomorrow the Green Grass, which produced the radio hit "Blue". That same year Olson stepped away to care for Williams after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis, and the group carried on without him. Back in his own orbit, he recorded the Creekdippers album with Williams and Mike "Razz" Russell in 1997, then released The Salvation Blues in 2007, an album inspired by his divorce. In 2011 he returned to the Jayhawks for Mockingbird Time, before leaving again in 2012.