J. Tillman

Singer/songwriter J. Tillman crafts languid, sadly beautiful portraits of love and life on the margins, drawing on the moody depth of Nick Drake alongside the country-influenced textures of Ryan Adams. While enrolled at college in New York City, he first gained recognition as the drummer for indie rock outfits Saxon Shore and Stately. During off hours he started composing his own songs, naming the music of Nick Drake and Pete Seeger plus the writings of Flannery O'Connor among his primary influences. A handful of his demos reached Damien Jurado, who asked Tillman to tour with his band. On several of those dates Tillman performed solo and handed out CD-R copies of his early collection I Will Return. He also formed a connection with Eric Fisher during the run, and Fisher produced the subsequent CD-R album Long May You Run, J. Tillman. Both musicians later joined Richard Buckner for a U.S. tour, where Tillman again encountered receptive listeners for his home-burned discs.

Fargo Records issued Tillman's first widely distributed solo album, Minor Works, in 2006, while Keep Records simultaneously reissued I Will Return and Long May You Run together as a two-disc set. Yer Bird Records followed with his fourth and more elaborately arranged effort, Cancer and Delirium, in 2007. Although his independent recordings kept earning praise, Tillman turned his attention briefly toward Fleet Foxes in 2008. The band logged extensive road time behind its debut, yet he kept developing his own songs, resulting in Vacilando Territory Blues that same year and Year in the Kingdom in 2009. In 2011 he departed Fleet Foxes to devote himself fully to solo work, adopting the name Father John Misty for the 2012 release Fear Fun. The twelve-track album merged the harmony-laden hymns of his former group with a patina of Gram Parsons and Harry Nilsson-informed, Laurel Canyon-inspired neo-psychedelia.