Mark Olson in Whelan’s on December 8th 2014

Dublin has at least one thing over on the USA when it comes to live shows in a bar. An open fire blazes at the back of the upstairs venue in Whelan’s, cutting through the chill December air and adding that extra bit of ambience to an already festive room. It’s an addition that Mark Olson remarks upon during his set. The one-time Jayhawk has been touring off the back of his latest release, ‘Good-bye Lizelle’, recorded with his wife, Ingunn Ringvold, and the pair are providing the sounds to accompany tonight’s hearthside setting.

Recorded during a period of self-imposed exile when Ringvold was deported from the States for twenty-nine months, ‘Good-bye Lizelle’ seems to have had a luminous effect on Olson’s temperament, particularly after an acrimonious split from his old band and the couple’s subsequent dislocation. Both coalesce in cosy harmony; Ringvold seated, herself a multi-instrumentalist and singer, switching between djembe drum and the Armenian zither-like Qanun, and Olson stood smitten to her left.

Ringvold’s djembe resonates deeply through the first stages of the set, with Olson dipping down towards her to pick out a guitar lick, or grin through a harmony. The section of the set where she takes lead on the Qanun seems a more collaborative effort and Olson switches to djembe, taking a seat through the more experimental Eastern textures of new tracks Jesse In The Old World and Poison Oleander. It certainly takes the night on a different path, albeit briefly, before Olson straps on his Fender and returns to more familiar territories.

The JayhawksOver My Shoulder, Clouds, and Closer To Your Side fall satisfyingly either side of this interlude, and The Everly Brothers style harmonies to which they aspire come to pass on Cherry Thieves as glances are exchanged and vocals intertwine with guitar onstage.  Olson’s post-Jayhawks band, Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers, also get a nod with Into The Yard, bridging the gap between his output from way back when until here and now.

No sooner have the pair departed the stage and made for the exit door than there’s an about turn, back through the applause for the encore of Heaven’s Shelter. “Why don’t you play some djembe?” Olson laughs to Ringvold during Clifton Bridge, and she obliges; maybe missing a cue, or perhaps the invitation is unexpected.

What may not have been expected by a few attendees, certainly, is the mid-set world music sojourn from a man from Minneapolis who has been plying his trade in the alt-country genre for most of his career. Tonight, it’s still that genre that shines through in the set, and never less so than on The Jayhawks’ Blue from almost twenty years’ previous; just Olson, his signature bandana, and emotion resonating through the intimacy of the twosome’s voices. There’ll always be a fire burning for this songwriter around these parts.