Throughout the 1980s the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, had a hip, underground music scene that was one of the best kept secrets in the country. Bands like the Replacements and Husker Du were legendary for their angst and wild, ear-shattering live shows (just ask this writer, who was once nearly trampled to death in the mosh pit at a Replacements show). On the flip side of the coin, high profile acts like Prince and The Revolution and Morris Day and The Time brought a slick blend of funk, pop and rock to the American mainstream.

Out of these twin hubs of frenetic musical energy came The Jayhawks, a band steeped in folk, country and rock traditions. The Jayhawks, whose original lineup in 1985 included Gary Louris, Mark Olson, Marc Perlman and Norm Rogers, had a fervent following, and after surviving multiple lineup changes are one of the few bands that are still thriving today from this era in Minnesota musical history. Louris and Perlman are the two original members remaining, with drummer Tim O'Reagan - a six-year veteran - and new guitarist Steve McCarthy rounding out the current lineup.

"It's never been the same, that was the best time for the Minneapolis music scene as far as I'm concerned," says Louris, principal songwriter, guitarist and lead singer for the band. "It felt pretty cool to actually be part of that, [though] we were carving out a different area. We were a lot louder back then; we were a pretty snotty, punky country band."

Newly signed to Nashville's Lost Highway label, the band has come to a crossroads in their career, poised to break through to a much bigger fan base. Lost Highway is the label that brought the Coen Brothers' Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? blockbuster film soundtrack to the masses, winning five Grammy Awards and selling an estimated seven million copies. The Jayhawks will soon be featured on the new Lost Highway Radio Show, a nationally syndicated live performance radio program that makes its debut on the airwaves in late August. Fellow label artist Lucinda Williams is the debut artist, and U2 frontman Bono will host the first installment. The Jayhawks' live segment was taped in Chicago and will air as the second installment with the host and airdate to be determined.

"Lost Highway is kind of a star in itself, it carries some weight and it's a bit of a celebrity," Louris explains. "We couldn't be happier with the label."

Happiness is something that often eludes this tenacious band of troubadours. Their latest album, Rainy Day Music, was released April 8 and is racked with bittersweet pathos, loss and love affairs gone bad. "We're a somewhat negative, 'glass is half empty' kind of band," Louris admits as he lets out yet another exhausted yawn on the phone. The band has been touring as the headlining act with The Thorns; they drove through the night and he's doing interviews from the bed in his hotel room and napping in between.

The first track on the album, "Stumbling Through the Dark" recalls the classic Jayhawks' sound and is the only song Louris cowrote for the album. His collaborator was Thorns member Matthew Sweet, who also supplies the background vocals. The song kicks off an album that returns to an earlier, rootsier sound for the band, with flourishes of banjo, pedal steel and accordion. There are Byrdsy harmonies, tasty hooks and plenty of jangly guitars. Louris is not a guitar collector by his own admission, but his stash includes a Flying V, an Epiphone Casino and a 1963 J-200, as well as an LG-1 from the '60s that he's used on all the Jayhawks' recordings.

"The guitar that's kind of my life's blood is the SG, and that's kind of my baby, my favorite," Louris says. "It falls between a Telecaster and a Les Paul, it's not as heavy as a Les Paul and not as thin as a Tele, and I think it's a little more versatile."

Louris got the SG from an old friend, Chris Osgood, who used to be in the Suicide Commandos, the seminal late '70s punk rock band from Minneapolis who were the impetus for bands like the Replacements and Husker Du. Osgood taught guitar after his life as a musician, and Louris told him he was looking for an SG because "I had become enamored with listening to Mike Bloomfield play on [Dylan's] Highway 61 Revisited and Bringing It All Back Home, and I just loved that sound."

Osgood had a student who owned the SG and Louris talked him into selling it - it had been sitting under the guy's bed. "It really had a history," he continues. "It was in a '60s garage rock band from Minneapolis that actually had regional hits."

Louris usually writes on his LG-1 or J-200. He says that for Rainy Day Music, he was inspired by what he's not hearing on the radio these days, namely well-crafted songs that can stand up regardless of the arrangement or what kinds of effects are used. The band made a conscious effort to get away from big production, and a lot of the album was cut live in the studio, including the lead vocals, the guitars and bass and the drums.

"I like what that brings to the music, which is kind of a pure method, the exchange of musical energy, for lack of a better way of putting it," Louris explains. "We didn't stockpile a million different takes of vocals and guitars and piece 'em together. There's really no compression on the record, and you can feel the room breath - it's a very roomy-sounding record.

"I was making an attempt to make a really traditional, rootsy record, and lo and behold it still shows my British influences which has proved to me that I can attempt to be kind of an Americana figure, but deep down, my heart is still with what I consider British music," he concludes. "It's what I grew up on."