jason groth (the fellow that busts out those sweet guitar licks for magnolia electric co.) is currently writing a tour diary for the marathon packs blog. you can check out the first entry now, the second will be posted tomorrow and updates will continue every other day until the tour’s conclusion.

magnolia electric co. heads out on the road today for a two week tour with ladyhawk. and if those two bands aren’t reason enough to stay out late, i’ll give you two more reasons. the band also have copies of the new album “fading trails” and the new jason molina solo record “let me go let me go let me go” for sale on the tour…

if you haven’t been fast enough to hear the new tracks that have been appearing briefly over at the mec myspace page, you’ll be happy to know that there are now mp3s from both “fading trails” and “let me go, let me go, let me go” available. check out the media section for a link to jason molina’s “get out, get out, get out” and magnolia electric co.’s “lonesome valley”.

like chocolate and peanut butter (or maybe disney and pixar) magnoliaelectricco.com and songsohia.com have come together to form the perfect snack… err site. more content, more regular updates, more magnolia and more molina…

coming september 12th on secretly canadian is yet another new magnolia release entitled “fading trails”. it’ll be composed of various recent recording sessions jason molina and company (both familiar and new) did with steve albini, david lowery and at the famous sun studios in memphis, tennessee… most interesting of all, it will also feature the demos from the lost shohola album.

a few more details about the new jason molina solo album “let me go, let me go, let me go” due out august 22nd on secretly canadian. it will be released lp-only in the same fashion as the previous solo album “pyramid electric co.”, with all that statement entails (*wink*)… a short piece from jason describing the album is also online…

the master for the new jason molina solo album, “let me go, let me go, let me go” was approved earlier this week and secretly canadian is currently aiming for a july 2006 release date.

when magnolia electric co. passed through chapel hill last month, jason swung by and recorded acoustic versions of three brand new songs for the internet radio site no love for ned (who happens to also host songsohia.com)… it just went up as part of the four-year anniversary show (04-24-06) and jason’s set starts the second hour. the setlist: talk to me devil, again / memphis moon / good luck follows bad follows none

no release date has been set, but a tracklist is now available for the upcoming magnolia electric co. album “nashville moon” recorded by steve albini. featuring twelve tracks and clocking in at about 45 minutes, it looks something like this: lonesome valley / montgomery bound / don’t fade on me / hammer down / no moon on the water / nashville moon / what comes after the blues / north star / don’t this look like the dark / bowery / texas 71 / down the wrong road both ways

on a day off in memphis last month, magnolia electric co. stopped by the legendary sun studios to record a trio of new tracks and a new version of “hold on magnolia”… it could potentially become an ep (with a magnolia’d sun-style label) but there are no firm plans at the moment. it was just the five-piece touring band for the session - jason molina (guitar, vox), jason groth (guitar, backing vox), michael kapinus (keys, trumpet), pete schreiner (bass) and mark rice (drums)…

so the new molina solo album didn’t quite make it to the band in time for the tour… it should hopefully be available from secretly canadian later this spring. the summer tour is coming together and there should be another eastern u.s. tour in the fall… i even heard a rumor of a solo show pencilled in for new zealand, although there aren’t any firm plans yet.

just got notice of a solo london show on april 5th, details on the tour page… the tour page also has the potential routing for a west coast tour this summer.