Goodbye Jason Molina
I know this photo isn't the greatest, but I took it the last
time I saw Jason Molina, who sadly passed away on Saturday, back in 2009, the year he stopped touring I believe.
Playing with his band Magnolia Electric Co., I remember he seemed in good spirits that night, particularly during a cover of Warren Zevon’s Lawyers, Guns & Money, where he looked like he was having a ball (I got the feeling he was more comfortable playing other people’s songs, maybe it was less painful and personal), and was impeccably dressed in a well-tailored suit, silver bola tie and turquoise jewellery. He was also sweetly shy and polite and seemed like he truly appreciated every applause and good response from the audience. He told a story about how he bought the guitar he was playing because when he picked it up in the guitar shop he immediately wrote a whole song there and then on it (and went on to play it that night), which just shows how natural, effortless and amazing his talent was.
I first discovered Molina when the Magnolia Electric Co. album came out in 2003 and I don’t think there was any album I listened to more that year, particularly the song Farewell Transmission, but every record he released was a thing of beauty. I always knew Molina’s music was moving, he had that beautiful sob in his voice that is impossible to fake, but I never knew just how real it was. It was only when it was revealed in 2011 that he had been in rehab after a long struggle with alcoholism that it started to emerge just how deep that pain went. He was still in treatment but improving when he released his last album, Autumn Bird Songs, last year, a truly heartbreaking record. Unfortunately it seems his body finally could take no more at just 39 years of age. I can't even tell you how saddened I was by the news. It really is a tragic thing and a true loss to music and to the world that he’s gone so young.
Playing with his band Magnolia Electric Co., I remember he seemed in good spirits that night, particularly during a cover of Warren Zevon’s Lawyers, Guns & Money, where he looked like he was having a ball (I got the feeling he was more comfortable playing other people’s songs, maybe it was less painful and personal), and was impeccably dressed in a well-tailored suit, silver bola tie and turquoise jewellery. He was also sweetly shy and polite and seemed like he truly appreciated every applause and good response from the audience. He told a story about how he bought the guitar he was playing because when he picked it up in the guitar shop he immediately wrote a whole song there and then on it (and went on to play it that night), which just shows how natural, effortless and amazing his talent was.
I first discovered Molina when the Magnolia Electric Co. album came out in 2003 and I don’t think there was any album I listened to more that year, particularly the song Farewell Transmission, but every record he released was a thing of beauty. I always knew Molina’s music was moving, he had that beautiful sob in his voice that is impossible to fake, but I never knew just how real it was. It was only when it was revealed in 2011 that he had been in rehab after a long struggle with alcoholism that it started to emerge just how deep that pain went. He was still in treatment but improving when he released his last album, Autumn Bird Songs, last year, a truly heartbreaking record. Unfortunately it seems his body finally could take no more at just 39 years of age. I can't even tell you how saddened I was by the news. It really is a tragic thing and a true loss to music and to the world that he’s gone so young.
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