Remembering Jason Molina: The Great Lake Swimmers

Photo by Harold Zijp

As part of a series called “Remembering Jason Molina,” I’m collecting stories about Jason and his impact on songwriters, musicians, and music writers. These are all individual tributes, on how Jason has affected their music, their perception of music, or just anecdotes on meeting him or seeing him live.

A lot has happened since my last post last year — too much to even talk about in a blog post. I’ve been dealing with my son’s developmental issues, my mom’s health issues, my own health, and unemployment. Regardless of what I have been dealing with, I try my best to continue setting priorities and not pushing too hard, because this busy life of taking care of people often forces me to put things on the back burner. I’ve also rediscovered an old hobby that has totally taken over some of my free time, and, thankfully, I’m not finding myself burned out like I have with CFM.

Anyway, this past Spring, The Great Lakes Swimmers released a YouTube video session of Tony and company covering Magnolia Electric Company’s “The Dark Don’t Hide It”. I asked if someone from the group could share a few words about Jason and what his music has meant to them, and Tony Dekker was kind enough to share. I just feel bad that I haven’t posted this sooner…

Photo by Ben Schreiner

Several years ago we lost Jason Molina, a brilliant songwriter and a powerful voice in the world of independent music. I’ve been thinking about his songs a lot lately, especially while reading the book about his life, Riding With The Ghost by Erin Osmon. We had the honour of opening for Magnolia Electric Co. a few times over the years in places as disparate as Austin, Texas and Brussels, Belgium. Jason’s music has always meant a lot to me, as Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co., and also in his solo albums and collaborations, and it is in regular rotation in our tour van. Our cover of ‘The Dark Don’t Hide It’ by Magnolia Electric Co., recorded live for the Dutch series The Influences (Onder Invloed) is an homage to his influence and the body of work he gave us.