the first shows of 2008 find jason molina collaborating with bachi da pietra for three completely improvised performances in italy. NOTE: tickets are extremely limited.

this was just passed along to me.

All of us are tremendously saddened by the sudden and tragic death of our good friend and collaborator, Evan Farrell. Evan, who played bass and pedal steel with us during our fall tour this year, was caught in a fire caused by a faulty furnace in a house in Oakland, CA late last week. He died due to massive smoke inhalation. Evan was an incredible musician and a dear, dear friend. He was a member of Japonize Elephants, Rogue Wave, The Hollows, Mega Mousse, Kentucky Nightmare, and countless other projects and collaborations. He was funny, kind, generous, and supremely talented — he will be missed terribly. Evan was also a husband and a father, and a memorial fund has been set up in his honor. If you find it in your heart, please donate. We love you, Evan, and we are better people for having known you.

when jason passed through italy last month he was invited to record a few songs for MAPS radio. they now have video and mp3s of that session posted on their site.

jason molina’s london sojourn has proved to be quite beneficial to his fans in europe- another solo tour is set to launch in two weeks. he’ll wrap the year up on december 15th with a very special solo show at the luminaire in london where everyone will walk away with something rare and amazing. this show will sell out early.

the magnolia electric co. fall american tour wrapped up a few weeks ago and the remaining copies of the sojourner box set have been returned to secretly canadian. they should be appearing back in the online shop sometime in the next few days. other than the copies floating around in the shops, this will likely be your last chance to get the box set. on november 6th, secretly canadian will also be adding a limited supply of the old songs: ohia tour cds ‘the ghost’ and ‘protection spells’ to their shop. this is not a full reissue - a small stash of old sleeves were found and a batch of cds was pressed to complete them. these were immensely popular on the fall tour, so you don’t want to dally when they become available.

the big fall u.s. tour started a few days ago and folks are buzzing about the selection at the merch booth. in addition to the recently released sojourner box set you’ll find two other releases that haven’t appeared on a merch table for over 7 years now. a stash of the long out-of-print tour cds the ghost and protection spells was discovered and they’re available for just $12 at one of the upcoming shows. so be sure to make it out to see the band live or resign yourself to the ridiculous ebay prices these have seen so far this millenium.

the fabulous sojourner box set is out today and available from your finer local record stores as well as secretly canadian. if you’re still not convinced, you’ll find streams of eighteen tracks (this week only!) from the set over on the mec myspace page. there’s also a little preview of the dvd available here.

magnolia electric co. will release their most ambitious work to date later this summer. on august 7th, secretly canadian will issue a 4xcd, 1xdvd deluxe box set entitled ’sojourner’. it includes all of the projects discussed over the past year and then some. ‘nashville moon’, recorded with steve albini in 2005. ‘the black ram’, recorded by david lowery with all sorts of guest musicians including andrew bird. the ’sun session’ ep, recorded at the legendary memphis studio in one day. and of course, the mysterious ’shohola’, recorded at home by jason molina. but that’s just the stuff you might have heard about. there’s also a dvd including the film ‘the road becomes what you leave’ by todd chandler and tim sutton that follows the band as they trek across the prairie provinces of canada. the amazing set is rounded out by deluxe packaging including a medallion and postcards, all housed in a wooden box.

in support of the upcoming ’sojourner’ release, magnolia electric co. will hit the road in late august for a nearly two month north american tour. almost all of the dates are now up, check the tour dates for more details!

we recently added songs: ohia to the live music archive and have been busy adding shows between 1998 and 2002. so if you’re one of those people that keep screaming for ‘lioness’ at the shows only to find yourself disappointed, you should find a salve (and quite possibly salvation) in the live archive.

magnolia electric co. and jason molina are part of two recent compilations benefiting college radio stations. in 2005, jason molina performed a solo version of ‘leave the city’ in wvfs’s studio that now appears on their ‘live at wvfs’ compilation. US residents can paypal $12 ($15 for the rest of the world) to klem(AT)threelobed.com for a copy. also available is a compilation released by wuag last year entitled ‘18 watts is better than none’ with a live version of ‘down the wrong road both ways’ from magnolia electric co.’s greensboro show in 2005. it’s only $8 from their store.