Transmissions From The Molinaverse - January 17th

A regular update on all things JM

Jan 17, 2025

Magnolia Electric Co at All Tomorrow's Parties festival, UK, April 2007

Photograph by Suzanne Norris

Hey everyone,

Hope you’re all doing ok out there! Back with you today with a little January update of a few things that have piqued our interest over the last couple of weeks. We’d like to highlight a couple of pieces of reading worth your time, a benefit concert featuring Jason’s music, and a handful of photos and bits and pieces from the archives.

Back with you soon!

S&D x

Recommended reading

This 'A Beginner’s Guide To Jason Molina’ Uproxx piece by writer Steven Hyden is a great read, even for those of us already well versed in most things Molina. It’s very thorough, and Steven does a great job of outlining Jason’s legacy and the many musicians still discovering his music every day:

“Molina has taken on the stature of sainted “bygone bard” for a new generation that never knew his music when he was alive, similar to what Townes Van Zandt signified for Gen-X singer-songwriters. Particularly in the indie-Americana space, everyone from Big Thief to Wednesday to Wild Pink to Strand Of Oaks to the promising Vermont rocker Greg Freeman seems in some way influenced by him, a debt that more often than not has been directly acknowledged.”

You can read it all here: https://uproxx.com/indie/jason-molina-beginners-guide/

Also worth your time is this article ‘The Best Things We Heard In 2024’ via Defector Mag, which mentions Jason’s music twice via two different contributors.

“There is no separating "Farewell Transmission" from the context of Molina's life, but if that context is sad, the song is not. It’s defiant and raucous, and the thrill of it comes from the sense that it feels as if it is about to peel itself apart but does not. It charges toward midnight, across a desert without an end, a little crazed and curious, and to all appearances not nearly as worried as it should be.” - David Roth

“Over time, my relationship to Molina's music evolved. He did that thing that almost all of my favorite artists do: Fixate on a handful of images—big moons, falling and twinkling stars, darkened midwestern towns, etc.—and deploy them in new and interesting ways across his body of work.” - Tom Ley

Read it here: https://defector.com/the-best-things-we-heard-in-2024

Seattle - MusiCares benefit concert / Molina tribute

For those of you around the Pacific Northwest, you might be interested in this special MusiCares benefit concert on Thursday, February 13, 2025, presented by KEXP and the Tractor Tavern. The show will bring together a great lineup of artists in order to support the health and well-being of musicians, and play the songs of Jason Molina.

All proceeds go to MusiCares, a vital resource that provides assistance to music professionals in times of need.

Full lineup:

David Bazan
Dean Johnson
King Youngblood
Star Anna
Julia Massey
Kathy Moore
Long Dark Moon
Cumulus
Annie J
Caitlin Sherman
Fredd Luongo
Low Hums
Mike Frazier
Barb Hunter

While we’re here, it might be useful to also highlight the work MusiCares are currently doing around the Los Angeles wildfires in terms of supporting musicians affected by the situation.

musicares