Jason Molina

The album's sound draws heavily from the heartland rock and folk-rock of the 1960s/70s, as well as Molina's heavy metal roots.

Jason Andrew Molina (December 30, 1973 – March 16, 2013) was an American musician, singer and songwriter.

Molina was born December 30, 1973 in Oberlin, Ohio.

His father was a middle school teacher.

He had one brother, Aaron, and one sister, Ashley.

Molina was raised in Lorain, Ohio, an industrial town 25 miles west of Cleveland, and grew up in a single-wide trailer on Lake Erie.

He began playing guitar at age 10.

Raised in northern Ohio, he came to prominence performing and recording as Songs: Ohia, both in solo projects and with a rotating cast of musicians in the late 1990s.

Molina attended Admiral King High School, graduating in 1992.

During school, he played bass guitar, most notably with the metal band Spineriders.

The first Songs: Ohia release came in 1995 as a single on Palace Records, Nor Cease Thou Never Now.

Molina attended Oberlin College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history in 1996.

After playing bass guitar in various metal bands in and around Cleveland, Molina became a solo artist under an assumed band name, recruiting other musicians for each project as needed.

He made several home recordings under various names, including "Songs: Albian", "Songs: Radix", and "Songs: Unitas", which he distributed himself at live performances.

Songs: Ohia was largely a project of revolving musicians with Molina as its center and sole stable member.

The band's genre is generally considered indie rock, lo-fi, folk, or alt-country.

The second part of the name is an allusion to both the Hawaiian tree 'Ōhi'a lehua and Molina's home state of Ohio.

This was followed by the 1997 full-length album Songs: Ohia (known among fans as the Black Album), released on the Bloomington, Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian.

In 2000, Molina released three albums: The Lioness, recorded in Glasgow by producer Andy Miller with help from Alasdair Roberts and members of Arab Strap; Ghost Tropic, recorded by Mike Mogis; and Protection Spells, a solo album sold at live shows and now out of print.

By 2000, Molina had given his tenor guitar a rest in favor of a regular six-string electric guitar and put together a full band to back him, including brothers Rob and Dan Sullivan on bass and guitar, Jeff Panall on drums, and Jim Grabowski on organ.

In the same year the touring band recorded a live album near Modena, Italy, released locally in 2001 as Mi Sei Apparso Come Un Fantasma.

In 2002, Molina recorded Didn't It Rain in Philadelphia with members of bluegrass band Jim & Jennie & the Pinetops.

On the album, named after a Mahalia Jackson song, the band achieved an almost gospel sound that was a vast departure from the dense feel of Ghost Tropic.

Constantly recording and writing new songs, Songs: Ohia released a handful of singles and EPs in 2002, including a split EP with My Morning Jacket and a collaborative EP (under the name Amalgamated Sons of Rest) with Will Oldham and Alasdair Roberts.

Beginning in 2003, he garnered a further indie following for his releases with the band Magnolia Electric Co.

Molina had a prolific career between his two musical projects and solo releases, producing a total of sixteen studio albums, eight EPs, and numerous singles.

His overall discography was noted by critics for blending elements of indie rock, blues, and alternative country with his tenor vocal range.

The 2003 release Magnolia Electric Co. marked a shift in direction for Songs: Ohia.

Every song was recorded live in the studio with a full touring band plus musicians from Didn't It Rain.

In March 2003, while on tour, Molina announced that he would rename the band Magnolia Electric Co., retaining the stylistic direction of the album of the same name.

He also continued to release solo work under his own name.

The first such release came in January 2004 as the full-length vinyl release Pyramid Electric Co.

Engineered by Mike Mogis, who also engineered Ghost Tropic, Pyramid found Molina alone at the microphone with only his voice and a piano or guitar.

Magnolia Electric Co.'s first official release was a live album, Trials and Errors, followed by a studio album, What Comes After the Blues, and an EP, Hard to Love a Man, all released in 2005.

In 2006, Molina released two more records: the sparse solo Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go and the more conventional Fading Trails with Magnolia Electric Co., the latter culled from three separate sessions over the previous year.

It is not entirely clear when Songs: Ohia became Magnolia Electric Co. In interviews, Molina claimed that he considered the tenure of Songs: Ohia over after Didn't It Rain, which would make Magnolia Electric Co. the self-titled debut album under the new name.

The name "Songs: Ohia" appears nowhere on the artwork of the album and only a promotional sticker on the cellophane wrapping connects it with the prior name.

Nevertheless, Secretly Canadian still promotes the album under the Songs: Ohia moniker.

In 2009, Molina canceled a tour with Will Johnson, citing health problems.

He spent the next four years dealing with alcoholism, which ultimately resulted in his death from multiple organ failure in March 2013.