Magnolia Electric Co.

Jason Molina formed Magnolia Electric Co. after ending Songs: Ohia, creating a new vehicle for his country-rock work. The ensemble took its name from the final Songs: Ohia album, establishing a direct link between Molina’s earlier output and the projects that followed.

The initial 2003 lineup of the four-piece group included Pete Schreiner, formerly of Panoply Academy and Coke Dares, on drums; Mike Kapinus of Okkervil River on bass and trumpet; Jason Groth, associated with Impossible Shapes, John Wilkes Booze, and Coke Dares, on guitar; and Molina himself on guitar and vocals. Magnolia Electric Co. taped the live album Trials & Errors in Brussels in 2003, which Secretly Canadian issued in January 2005.

Continued road work brought changes to the roster: Mark Rice, who had played with Impossible Shapes and John Wilkes Booze, joined on drums, Schreiner moved to bass, Kapinus shifted to trumpet and keyboards, and Groth and Molina stayed on guitar. Secretly Canadian released the band’s first full-length studio album to strong reviews in spring 2005. Magnolia Electric Co. kept an active schedule, touring extensively through the summer and delivering the five-song EP Hard to Love a Man in October. Fading Trails appeared in September 2006, followed in August 2007 by Sojourner, a limited-edition four-CD box set produced for dedicated listeners.

Jason Molina struggled with alcoholism for many years before dying of organ failure in March 2013 at the age of 39.