A couple years ago, I got around to checking out Will Johnson adjacent musician Jason Molina. Turns out he was another December 30th birthday buddy. Anyhow, Molina and Will Johnson recorded an album together in 2009 simply titled Molina and Johnson. Four years after Molina's death in 2013, Erin Osman wrote his biography, "Riding With the Ghost", and asked Will Johnson to write the forward. It was a beautiful tribute to a kindred spirit. The biography was fascinating and prompted me to head down the Jason Molina rabbit hole. Osman went into great detail about the song "Farewell Transmission" from his Songs Ohia album Magnolia Electric Co., so that's where I began. What I discovered was a record that continually veered back and forth between savage power and spare beauty, with Molina presiding like a prime era Neil Young.
Magnolia Electric Co. opens with the aforementined "Farewell Transmission" and it is a 7 1/2 minute revelation. I have to resist the urge to just post the entire lyrics; there are so many poignant lines. One that resonates because of Molina's death is "I will try and know whatever I try, I will be gone but not forever". Two other brilliant lyrics are "My kind of life's no better off if I've got the maps or if I'm lost" and "Mama here comes Midnight with the dead moon in its jaws". "Farewell Transmission" ends with a great run out where Molina repeats the line "Long dark blues...LISTEN". Then on the final "LISTEN" the song abruptly ends. Goosebumps.
"I've Been Riding With the Ghost" and "John Henry Split My Heart" are full on Neil Young and Crazy Horse rockers. "John Henry" opens with a Crazy Horse style jam, then it pulls back for a sparse piano interlude, then kicks the door in with more Crazy Horse jamming. Molina also reprises lyrics from "Farewell Transmission". The song ends with John Henry asking "Boy what are you going to do with your heart in two?" The reply is "If it's good enough and only if it's good enough, half I'm going to use to pay this band. Half I'm saving because I'm going to owe them". Fuck.
"Just Be Simple" starts out with some exquisite pedal steel then Molina joins in with fragile vocals. "You'll never hear me talk about one day getting out. Why put a new address on the same old loneliness". My favorite line is "I think he's been letting me win. And I think he's doing it again. Thanks for letting me win. And everything you hated me for, honey there was so much more. I just didn't get busted".
I highly recommend this album, as well as, Osman's biography. It's a riveting story. Peace.
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