The Jayhawks brought their 40th-anniversary tour through Nashville on Friday, November 13, with singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier joining them as special guest at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's CMA Theater. The venue's own event page for the show now reads simply, “This event has passed,” confirming the date is behind the Minneapolis band as it continues carrying a new album, Sanctuary Park, out on the road.
A Night Built Around Four Decades of Music
The show was billed as the Sanctuary Park Tour, celebrating 40 years of the band, according to Nashville Lifestyles, with the performance set for the CMA Theater at 224 Rep. John Lewis Way S. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum describes The Jayhawks as having emerged from Minneapolis during the post-punk era, a scene far removed from the alt-country and Americana sound the band would go on to help define. The museum's listing credits the band with helping pioneer today's Americana movement, pointing to a sound that draws on country, folk, soul, Britpop, and rock and roll.
Today's lineup, per the museum's own event description, includes Gary Louris, Marc Perlman, Karen Grotberg, and Tim O'Reagan. Over four decades, the band has also served as backing musicians for some major names, having toured with and backed Ray Davies, Roger McGuinn, and Country Music Hall of Fame member Johnny Cash, the museum notes.
New Album Teams the Band With a Pink Floyd Producer
The tour arrives alongside Sanctuary Park, an album the museum's event page describes as having been made with producer Bob Ezrin, known for his work with Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, and Lou Reed. The museum had listed the album as set for release in late summer 2026. According to JamBase, Sanctuary Park arrived August 28 via Thirty Tigers, preceded by the lead single “Keeping Our Heads Above Water.”
Reviewers have placed the record within the band's genre-blending history. An AllMusic review describes Sanctuary Park as moving between Americana, folk, power pop, and classic rock. Sources differ on exactly how deep The Jayhawks' catalog now runs: the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's page states the band has over twelve studio albums and three live albums, while the Star Tribune refers to Sanctuary Park as the band's 12th studio album.
Buying Tickets and Avoiding Counterfeits
For the CMA Theater show, the museum capped sales at six tickets per household and steered fans toward CountryMusicHallofFame.org and CMATheater.com as the only official points of purchase, warning that tickets bought from unauthorized websites or third-party vendors may be counterfeit. Those guidelines apply to the venue's broader calendar of shows, not just this one performance.
With the Nashville stop now in the rearview, The Jayhawks continue pushing Sanctuary Park out to audiences on a tour built explicitly around the band's 40-year arc — from its post-punk Minneapolis roots to a catalog that has helped shape Americana as a genre.
