JOHN LENNON COULD have been framing Mark Olson's artistic process when he remarked that "reality leaves a lot to the imagination." Olson, who founded the Jayhawks and whose nostalgic harmonies with Gary Louris helped sculpt alt-country in the '90s, has had a lot of reality to mine of late, as his first solo album, "The Salvation Blues," will attest.

Olson lost his home, his band and his marriage to songwriter Victoria Williams. After moving in with his aunt, crashing on friends' couches and, by some accounts, entertaining the idea of becoming an EMT, he finally got back in the groove with a rich, poetic album of his own that kick-started even more good things. Later this year, look out for a collaborative album with Louris and a tour in early '09. But in the meantime, don't miss hearing songs from this solo work. Recorded in a three-week period at various studios across Europe and the U.S., it is a blueprint for finding a way back.

Krissie Gregory (ENLARGE)
Mark Olson's first solo LP, 'The Salvation Blues,' was recorded in Europe, where he says the songs 'came gushing out.'
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You were sort of itinerant during the recording and writing of this album. What was it about constantly changing foreign scenery that inspired you?

I have some friends who live in Wales, and I went back to see them. ... They write books and were getting up early in the morning to work. After a couple days of this I thought, well, this is a little embarrassing. I'm staying in their son's room and not getting up and working, so I'm going to do that. Get up and work. I booked some studio time and discovered that I enjoyed working with local engineers. Nice people, no pressure, writing songs and then recording them with someone I'd never met before. I just latched on to this way of working. Once you find a way to work at something that you enjoy that seems to fit your personality, then a lot of work gets done. I became passionate about it. I'd written songs in different ways before, but in writing them this way, it came gushing out.

The album sounds deeply personal. Is it safe to say it's entirely autobiographical?

I do write a certain amount of fiction. It's not all a verbatim real-life story of me. But I try to use [my experiences] as a starting point. As a way of looking at life. I can imagine things without speaking directly to the facts. My grandma did this a lot. An event would happen. She'd meet so-and-so on the street and she'd have a conversation, and then she'd come and tell me about it, and she'd make up an entirely different story than the conversation she just had. Her imagination would get the better of her. I lived with my grandmother when I was young, and I learned from her that if your imagination works in a certain way, you're not limited to the reality of what's going on.

• THE 411: Mark Olson. $15. 7:30 p.m. May 10 at Red Light Cafe, 553 Amsterdam Ave. 404-874-7828, www.ticketmaster.com.