Chapter 1: Lorain
Chapter 2: Metal
Chapter 3: Oberlin
Chapter 4: Secretly Canadian
Chapter 5: Darcie
Chapter 6: Ireland
Chapter 7: Chicago
Chapter 8: Lightning in a Bottle
Chapter 9: The Electricians
Chapter 10: London
Chapter 11: Rehab
Chapter 12: Indianapolis
Erin Osmon is a music writer based in Chicago. Her work has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, websites, and journals dealing with music and culture. She also writes long-form liner notes for reissues of historic albums. A native of Evansville, Indiana, Ms. Osmon grew up in the Midwest underground music scene. She discovered Jason Molina’s music in 1998 after the song “Vanquisher” from the first Songs: Ohia LP made rounds on a mix tape among her high school friends. This is her first book.
The anecdotal details from Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost are
what ring most vividly, exposing a side of Molina that rarely came
through in his melancholic music.... Riding with the Ghost also
enriches his songs, illuminating their characters in their own
words and supplying context to the places they were set.
*MTV*
Among Riding with the Ghost’s most memorable passages are instances
of Molina’s fandom, from his unconditional love for Sade and his
evangelizing of Kraftwerk to Damien Jurado, to his edict to
bandmates to study Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush. Molina’s
passion rings through these pages, nowhere more distinctly than in
the retelling of the fateful interaction that launched his career
while studying at Oberlin College (where he was known as
'Sparky').
*Pitchfork Media Inc.*
Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost delves into each period of
the artist’s life: from his first high school punk band Chronic
Insanity, to his last days with heralded alt-country act Magnolia
Electric Co., and the numerous iterations of his beloved
folk-leaning band Songs: Ohia, as well as solo material and
unreleased demos unkown to fans. It’s a fascinating look at one of
the last pre-internet indie successes and the underground music
scene that supported his meteoric rise. The book also examines the
origin story of Bloomington, IN-based Secretly Canadian, and how
the record label and Molina became inexorably linked in a nearly
17-year run as label and artist, despite major ideological and
technological shifts in the landscape of independent music. It’s a
book not just for Molina fans, but for music fans — a story for the
ages that explores the triumphs and pitfalls of a very pure
artistic spirit.
*Glide Magazine*
Jason Molina: Riding With the Ghost absolutely communicates just
what Molina’s life meant to family, friends, collaborators and
fans.... Osmon does an excellent job of painting a nuanced portrait
of a complex human being.... Her interviews with former band
members and those involved with the production process yield a lot
of wonderful insight into Molina’s singular and demanding creative
process and his prolificacy.... It was already clear from his
immense output that there is endless meaning to be gleaned from
Jason Molina’s body of work, but Osmon takes the story of his
short, bright time on Earth, warts and all — just like a Songs:
Ohia record, 'no overdubs!' — and puts it in the context of a real
human life. And that unveils depths to his music that we’re only
now able to explore.
*Winnipeg Free Press*
Osmon's biography is a must read for anyone who has more than a
casual relationship with Molina's work; which, in my guess, would
be anyone who has heard Molina's work.... Osmon pulls back the
curtain and shows us Molina the man.
*37 FLOOD*
Never short on details, it’s a ravenous fan’s dream.... Osmon
provides the deepest of glimpses into Molina’s worlds. All the
trinket-filled mysteries left behind by one of the greatest
songwriters who ever wrote a note are captured here.... Thanks ...
Osmon for a guided tour of Molina’s mythological palette, warts and
all.
*Popmatters*
If Jason Molina has ever been important to you, then you need to
read the book, because Osmon did a magnificent job detailing
Molina’s life, struggles, music, and demise. So many lingering
questions are answered, and questions you’d never considered are
answered as well. Read it. Now.
*Third Coast Review*
In her new book, Riding With the Ghost, writer Erin
Osmon accomplishes a tricky feat regarding the late Jason
Molina... She presents Molina, whose work can so often mythic,
as if carved from ancient stone, fully as a person, with
faults, desires, humors, and failings. She doesn’t strip his songs
of their mystery or allure, but rather illustrates the
idiosyncratic and personal details that led to his remarkable words
and melodies. In doing so, she gives us the gift of more fully
knowing Molina, as well as his companions and friends, those who
traveled alongside him through life.
*Aquarium Drunkard*
Riding With The Ghost...captures the heaviness and levity
that coexisted in Molina’s personality, and it enriches a moving
and inexhaustible artistic legacy.
*Decoder Magazine*
[E]mpathetic and informative.... Erin Osmon is a great biographer,
writer and critic. She has used new interviews to weave an
empathetic and informative story around Molina and his music,
without turning him into a martyr, without trying to make him even
more of a cult figure than he has become. She does not condone or
condemn, simply tells it straight. Here is the story of one
creative spirit who could not cope. Here is how he lived and made
the music he left behind. Read and listen: it is the story of how
music is made.
*International Times*
Erin Osmon paints an empathetic and deeply human portrait of Jason
Molina, both the artist and the man. A biography that's as
beautifully haunting as one of his songs.
*Bob Mehr, author, "Trouble Boys: The True Story of the
Replacements"*
In Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost, Erin Osmon gives us a
riveting biography not only of a great musician whose work deserves
to be much wider known, but a well-rounded portrait of a
fascinating human being, as well as a glimpse into the creative
process. It's a ride well worth taking.
*Jim DeRogatis, co-host, "Sound Opinions," and author, Let It
Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs*
During his all-too-short lifetime, Jason Molina created some of the
most emotionally stirring, soul-enriching, and thought-provoking
rock this side of Neil Young, Lou Reed, and Nick Drake. First time
author Erin Osmon has crafted a meticulously researched biography
infused with both passion and a keen analytic eye. During his
lifetime, Molina was criminally under recognized. In a perfect
world, Osmon’s loving tribute will play its part in rectifying
this.
*Rob Bowman, Grammy Award–winning author, Soulsville U.S.A.: The
Story of Stax Records*
Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost accomplishes a tremendous
feat—an examination of Molina's life and work as rich, complex, and
fearless as the music he made. Erin Osmon unpacks the mythology and
gives us a portrait that is human, tangible, and deeply moving.
*Jessica Hopper, author, The First Collection of Criticism by a
Living Female Rock Critic*
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