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Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost
Erin Osmon presents a detailed, human account of the Rust Belt-born musician Jason Molina--a visionary, prolific, and at times cantankerous singer-songwriter with an autodidactic style that captivated his devoted fans. The songwriting giant behind the bands Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. had a knack for spinning tales, from the many personal myths he cultivated throughout his life to the poems and ballads he penned and performed. As with too many great musicians, Molina's complicated relationship with the truth, combined with a secretive relationship with the bottle, ultimately claimed his life.
Jason Riding with the Ghost details Molina's personal trials and triumphs and reveals for the first time the true story of Molina's last months and works, including an unpublished album unknown to many of his fans. Offering unfettered access to the mind and artistry of Molina through exclusive interviews with family, friends, and collaborators, the book also explores the Midwest music underground and the development of Bloomington, Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian.
As the first authorized and detailed account of this prolific songwriter and self-mythologizer, Jason Molina provides readers with unparalleled insight into Molina's tormented life and the fascinating Midwest musical underground that birthed him. It's a story for the ages that speaks volumes to the triumphs and trials of the artistic spirit while exploring the meaningful music that Molina's creative genius left behind.
Jason Riding with the Ghost details Molina's personal trials and triumphs and reveals for the first time the true story of Molina's last months and works, including an unpublished album unknown to many of his fans. Offering unfettered access to the mind and artistry of Molina through exclusive interviews with family, friends, and collaborators, the book also explores the Midwest music underground and the development of Bloomington, Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian.
As the first authorized and detailed account of this prolific songwriter and self-mythologizer, Jason Molina provides readers with unparalleled insight into Molina's tormented life and the fascinating Midwest musical underground that birthed him. It's a story for the ages that speaks volumes to the triumphs and trials of the artistic spirit while exploring the meaningful music that Molina's creative genius left behind.
240 pages, ebook
Published May 15, 2017
85 people are currently reading
963 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
August 19, 2017
I am pleased to have read this; although it has left me in a mix of emotions.
The book is well researched, and if you want to know what Jason Molina was doing at a particular time, and who with, then this is for you. What it doesn’t do is give you any insight into what he was thinking or feeling, which means that the final section is sudden, hurried and difficult to read.
This is clearly written by a true fan, but for that very reason it has massive limitations and the skill of biography writing is woefully lacking I’m afraid. The insights and opinions about the music scene that Molina was a part of come from the author’s perspective and are biased as such, giving little indication as to Molina’s opinions or influences.
I would also say that despite the enthusiasm, this is overall poorly written; with lazy observations, repetition of facts, often within a page or so of the original statement, and the colloquialisms used are frequently jarring and often inappropriate (“…returning for the first time in a dogs age” when discussing Molina’s travelling to his Mother’s funeral in particular poor taste).
It does however, provide factual detail that gives a rounder picture of this elusive figure and his recording of an incredible body of work (even if the detail of the song-writing process is lacking) and for that I am pleased to have read it.
Erin Osman has probably written the best book she can, but she’s a fan, not an author, and Molina deserves more; I sincerely hope he gets it.
Ring the bell.
The book is well researched, and if you want to know what Jason Molina was doing at a particular time, and who with, then this is for you. What it doesn’t do is give you any insight into what he was thinking or feeling, which means that the final section is sudden, hurried and difficult to read.
This is clearly written by a true fan, but for that very reason it has massive limitations and the skill of biography writing is woefully lacking I’m afraid. The insights and opinions about the music scene that Molina was a part of come from the author’s perspective and are biased as such, giving little indication as to Molina’s opinions or influences.
I would also say that despite the enthusiasm, this is overall poorly written; with lazy observations, repetition of facts, often within a page or so of the original statement, and the colloquialisms used are frequently jarring and often inappropriate (“…returning for the first time in a dogs age” when discussing Molina’s travelling to his Mother’s funeral in particular poor taste).
It does however, provide factual detail that gives a rounder picture of this elusive figure and his recording of an incredible body of work (even if the detail of the song-writing process is lacking) and for that I am pleased to have read it.
Erin Osman has probably written the best book she can, but she’s a fan, not an author, and Molina deserves more; I sincerely hope he gets it.
Ring the bell.
August 5, 2018
So sad. I read this in one sitting with his music as the background. I synched my listening choices to the book.
I became a fan probably about the time his downward spiral began in 2009. With all that was going on in my life, I just listened and appreciated. My music obsessive days of reading music mags cover to cover and finding out everything I could about my favorite artists had faded with motherhood, a troubled marriage, and day to day responsibilities. So I had no idea of Molina's connections to Indianapolis, where I live, or to Bloomington, where I know people in the music community. Through this book I've learned how close those connections are, having seen John Wilkes Booze and The Coke Dares several times, being a huge Kozelek fan and an Albini fan, having known Mahern for 30 years, etc.
The writing style was a bit awkward in spots (writing instructor gripe here), and the last few years are covered quite thinly compared to the rest. I suspect there was much better not told toward the end, plus things like rehab records being private. We can fill in the blanks, I suppose. I am impressed by all the support he was given to get better.
Just so tragic.
I became a fan probably about the time his downward spiral began in 2009. With all that was going on in my life, I just listened and appreciated. My music obsessive days of reading music mags cover to cover and finding out everything I could about my favorite artists had faded with motherhood, a troubled marriage, and day to day responsibilities. So I had no idea of Molina's connections to Indianapolis, where I live, or to Bloomington, where I know people in the music community. Through this book I've learned how close those connections are, having seen John Wilkes Booze and The Coke Dares several times, being a huge Kozelek fan and an Albini fan, having known Mahern for 30 years, etc.
The writing style was a bit awkward in spots (writing instructor gripe here), and the last few years are covered quite thinly compared to the rest. I suspect there was much better not told toward the end, plus things like rehab records being private. We can fill in the blanks, I suppose. I am impressed by all the support he was given to get better.
Just so tragic.
April 22, 2023
Molina was a tortured guy. Even more sad that most of his drinking he did in the closet, away from wife and band members, until he could no longer "hide" it. This guy was so talented, and as an indie writer, I relate so heavily to his desire to stay out of the mainstream. His lyrics sting, and are so poetic, and riveting. And yes, although we know how the book "ends," still there is so much I didn't know about him when I was turned on to Songs: Ohia so many years ago.
October 9, 2021
I knew how it ended, but read it anyway....and anyone who knew or remembers Jason Molina already knows, too. The book does a great job of exploring Molina's early life and career, highlighting early achievements...but races through the end of it all. Given the circumstances, maybe it was for the best. Regardless, I am positive that I will continue revisiting his legacy...now with new context. A must read for any other fans.
September 24, 2024
What a frustrating experience. I don't know if the copy I got from the library is the most current edition; I kind of hope it wasn't. I've been an editor pretty much my entire adult professional life, although mostly not of books. But I have edited a couple of them, and this book needed at least one more thorough editing pass.
To be clear, the bones of what's here are mostly pretty good! Molina comes across as pretty fundamentally unknowable but in a very human way that shakes off some of the mystique that tends to gather around artists like him (this is a good thing). The entire period of decline and death is wrenchingly sad, and the frustrated love of Molina's friends and family comes through strongly. With books like this (or the Julian Cope memoir I read recently) the thing I most want is a sense of the texture of this life/place/community etc., and I got that here. This should be four stars on that basis, easy.
But then, while I trust the research and interviews that went into this as far as accuracy goes, there were just so many little moments that were awkward or jarring, especially when information that we were given 20 pages (or, in at least one case, one paragraph!) ago is treated as if we'd never heard it before in a way that yanked me right out of the book every time it happened. It's not that either instance was bad or poorly crafted; the issues here are more around consistency, clarity, flow. That's why I call it frustrating; none of this really negates what the book presents, but none of it should have been difficult to fix, either.
To be clear, the bones of what's here are mostly pretty good! Molina comes across as pretty fundamentally unknowable but in a very human way that shakes off some of the mystique that tends to gather around artists like him (this is a good thing). The entire period of decline and death is wrenchingly sad, and the frustrated love of Molina's friends and family comes through strongly. With books like this (or the Julian Cope memoir I read recently) the thing I most want is a sense of the texture of this life/place/community etc., and I got that here. This should be four stars on that basis, easy.
But then, while I trust the research and interviews that went into this as far as accuracy goes, there were just so many little moments that were awkward or jarring, especially when information that we were given 20 pages (or, in at least one case, one paragraph!) ago is treated as if we'd never heard it before in a way that yanked me right out of the book every time it happened. It's not that either instance was bad or poorly crafted; the issues here are more around consistency, clarity, flow. That's why I call it frustrating; none of this really negates what the book presents, but none of it should have been difficult to fix, either.
June 3, 2017
A heartbreaking account of the rise and fall of one of my favorite musicians.
November 30, 2023
It is a thorough journalist biography of a man, whose songs are like fairytales, and I guess I was expecting a fairytale biography, but it wasn’t. The book is full of the facts, timelines, quotes, mundane tour and record events of a life of one of the most magical poet, who wrote a magical, lonesome, heartbreaking poetry. And there is no poetry in his biography, no magic in this book. Which is probably not the fair complaint about the biography, but I’d rather read something written by Molina himself - untruthful, metaphorical, haunted by ghosts, composed of his letters and drawings poem of his short life
January 17, 2018
Jason moved from Bloomington, IN to the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago and worked at Borders Books. Huh. Sounds familiar. Also I have to give five stars to any book that mentions Wee Willie’s.
August 23, 2017
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Last month, I went to a Jason Molina tribute show at the Hideout in Chicago, where I live. The show surrounded the release of the book, and Erin read some excerpts from it. The Oberlin Songs: Ohia folks reunited and played, as well as other friends and musicians who loved him. I've loved his music for years but never got to see him perform, so that was especially cool. I remember hearing about his passing and his friends and family's attempts to save him a few years after I moved to Chicago, and how devastated I was but I didn't know much of the details.
I appreciate how well-researched this book is, and how many first-hand accounts the author included. Jason was such a special human and musician and I really loved diving into the details of his story. That being said, the writing style was a bit difficult to read, as others have stated. And there, at times, are a distracting number of typos. But it honestly didn't bother me as much as it should have because I was already so invested in his story.
I appreciate how well-researched this book is, and how many first-hand accounts the author included. Jason was such a special human and musician and I really loved diving into the details of his story. That being said, the writing style was a bit difficult to read, as others have stated. And there, at times, are a distracting number of typos. But it honestly didn't bother me as much as it should have because I was already so invested in his story.
December 17, 2017
I believe that understanding the facts behind a beautiful mystery do not diminish it, but rather enhance it. So, for example, knowledge of astrophysics makes the night sky more beautiful. Or a historian visiting a battlefield sees the ghosts much more clearly than do the rest of us.
I’ve been nurtured and guided and changed by the enigmatic words and music of Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. many times in the last 15+ years. But I really had no idea where they were coming from (nor even their connection to Chicago, where I have lived for all that time). Now thanks to this book, they move me more deeply than ever. Thank you, Erin Osmon, for this worthy labor of love.
(As an aside, this book also contains the most compassionate treatment of an alcoholism fatality that I’ve read - compassionate toward the victim, and to others who suffered in its wake.)
I’ve been nurtured and guided and changed by the enigmatic words and music of Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. many times in the last 15+ years. But I really had no idea where they were coming from (nor even their connection to Chicago, where I have lived for all that time). Now thanks to this book, they move me more deeply than ever. Thank you, Erin Osmon, for this worthy labor of love.
(As an aside, this book also contains the most compassionate treatment of an alcoholism fatality that I’ve read - compassionate toward the victim, and to others who suffered in its wake.)
May 31, 2017
i guess i should have expected it, given what happens to jason molina, but this was one of the most devastating things i have ever read. the final few chapters are so difficult to get through as osmon tracks in pretty grim detail the alcoholic depths to which molina succumbed to in the last decade of his life.
at times, a little cumbersomely written, and occasionally a little jarring as it dips back and forth between years (specifically, 2002 to 2005-ish are kind of hard to get an exact grasp on the where and when), but, never the less, for fans of molina's work, this is essential reading.
at times, a little cumbersomely written, and occasionally a little jarring as it dips back and forth between years (specifically, 2002 to 2005-ish are kind of hard to get an exact grasp on the where and when), but, never the less, for fans of molina's work, this is essential reading.
April 28, 2023
Sad sad story about the integer and beautiful music of Molina. Good read for fans who want to know every detail of his life story. But this was a very descriptive book. The writing style of Osmon is full of random details that gave me the feeling that I was reading a Wikipedia page most of the time. I missed a more insight story or a deep dive in Molina’s mind. Anyway, thank you for helping me wandering around again in Molina’s music.
June 15, 2018
Being a fan of Molina’s, I was well versed in where this story was going. But I still wasn’t prepared for the pain & sorrow which seeped from the book’s pages while mapping out the trajectory of his story. Certainly adds an incredible perspective to his music which already carried such apparent demons.
May 31, 2017
gutted.
June 17, 2017
Devastating. Cried buckets.
June 27, 2017
A terribly sad tale, about an immensely prolific, and talented songwriter.
June 12, 2021
It’s a shame Jason Molina didn’t make it out of the desert he’d been trying to cross in time to be able to pen his own autobiography: the supernatural visions and ‘Wasp Factory’ obsessions of his life combined with his tendency to tell a good yarn irrespective of truth would have made a singular book. Even in the first chapter, the child Molina sees a Civil War ghost, receives crayons from a mysterious tramp who dies the same day, and says a first word that is more a first sentence: “Don’t you think the trees get tired from standing up all day?”
Osmon started writing this in the same year Molina died, and the depth of her research together with the willingness and generosity of his family and friends to co-operate means that this is unlikely to be bettered as a telling of the Songs:Ohia and Magnolia Electric Company frontman’s life. Fair warning: if you’re thinking of reading this, you know already that there isn’t a happy ending. He never got to find out what comes after the blues.
Osmon started writing this in the same year Molina died, and the depth of her research together with the willingness and generosity of his family and friends to co-operate means that this is unlikely to be bettered as a telling of the Songs:Ohia and Magnolia Electric Company frontman’s life. Fair warning: if you’re thinking of reading this, you know already that there isn’t a happy ending. He never got to find out what comes after the blues.
June 26, 2025
the biography of an artist whose body of work i adore, and whose tragic ending i was already familiar with (the last chapters were utterly gutting). while very informative and descriptive i can't help but feel like something was lacking here. maybe it was the repetitive way the author kept re-stating facts that only needed a single instance, or maybe it was the tangled timeline that was somewhat often hard to follow. regardless this was obviously written with great love and reverance for molina and his work.
3.5/5 goodreads allow half ratings you cowards
bonus anecdote: my brother asked me what i was reading and when I told him a bio of jason molina he groaned and told me to get over myself 100 emoji
3.5/5 goodreads allow half ratings you cowards
bonus anecdote: my brother asked me what i was reading and when I told him a bio of jason molina he groaned and told me to get over myself 100 emoji
July 29, 2024
(a drunken story about the extremely talented and revered singer/songwriter Jason Molina)
Please read my review here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/msarki/...
Please read my review here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/msarki/...
January 28, 2018
A informative biography that tries to fill in the blanks on the mythical life a a "dead too soon" singer/songwriter of profound talents. Draws from many sources from his short career that sadly ended in my hometown of Indy at age 37.
January 5, 2019
I was a late-comer to Jason Molina and all of the joy and healing his music brought to others. I am now among you. I would assume that everyone who grabs a copy of this book already knows how it ends, but Erin Osmon's near-impossible task of reassembling the wreckage of Molina's life is done quite well. From his early days as an art student at Oberlin College in his native Ohio to the formation of musical brotherhoods in Bloomington, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois...to the romances that often became the subjects in Molina's songs...alongside the usual ghosts, wolves, trains, and moons, RIDING WITH THE GHOST draws as linear a line available through Molina's short life.
As difficult as the task likely was piecing the fragments together, one criticism I have is that Osmon too often repeats points in the book with language as if the point had not already been discussed a few pages earlier. This was most notable when introducing how Molina got his nickname of "Sparky", how he was a prankster, and how he often embellished stories. Where a simple reminder would have sufficed, some of these sections read like the author was introducing for the first time...the *third* time. It almost felt like each chapter had once been a stand-alone work - or blog post - that was not edited as a complete work once fully assembled. I am willing to chalk this up to Osmon taking a page out of Molina's playbook and going with the first take...no overdubs!!
Regardless of this annoying quirk in the writing, the story is still absolutely captivating. It is unfortunate that we don't have more about Molina's final days...but given he was largely isolated from those who knew and loved him best, these anecdotes live and die with the strangers with whom he kept company in his final, dark days. That said, there were hints about how Molina's MECo songs seemed to foretell aspects of his life - including his crippling depression, difficulty to be around, isolation, and eventual lonely demise; and I think more attention/research could have been done to see if there was any sense of Molina's thinking during the writing of these songs, and whether, with 20/20 hindsight, the cries for help were right in front of us all along.
For musicians, you will love the schematic drawn from the recording session that gave us Songs: Ohia - THE MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. as it describes setup, equipment, microphones etc., used in the recording. And if you're stubborn like me...you get hung up on these things.
As difficult as the task likely was piecing the fragments together, one criticism I have is that Osmon too often repeats points in the book with language as if the point had not already been discussed a few pages earlier. This was most notable when introducing how Molina got his nickname of "Sparky", how he was a prankster, and how he often embellished stories. Where a simple reminder would have sufficed, some of these sections read like the author was introducing for the first time...the *third* time. It almost felt like each chapter had once been a stand-alone work - or blog post - that was not edited as a complete work once fully assembled. I am willing to chalk this up to Osmon taking a page out of Molina's playbook and going with the first take...no overdubs!!
Regardless of this annoying quirk in the writing, the story is still absolutely captivating. It is unfortunate that we don't have more about Molina's final days...but given he was largely isolated from those who knew and loved him best, these anecdotes live and die with the strangers with whom he kept company in his final, dark days. That said, there were hints about how Molina's MECo songs seemed to foretell aspects of his life - including his crippling depression, difficulty to be around, isolation, and eventual lonely demise; and I think more attention/research could have been done to see if there was any sense of Molina's thinking during the writing of these songs, and whether, with 20/20 hindsight, the cries for help were right in front of us all along.
For musicians, you will love the schematic drawn from the recording session that gave us Songs: Ohia - THE MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. as it describes setup, equipment, microphones etc., used in the recording. And if you're stubborn like me...you get hung up on these things.
April 15, 2018
I love Molina in all of his incarnations. I did not know this existed. Must read soon.
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Devoured.
I am incredibly happy this book exists. It is uneven and there are two mini typohs. Otherwise, fascinating and insightful. I have a greater understanding of the mind, work ethic, musical background, lyrical depth, and relationships of one of my favorite musicians. The last several chapters are as tragic as they have to be. They clear up some of the questions I have had about his disappearance and cryptic posts to fans toward the end of his life, though. That he died so young and so horribly is a tragedy. His body of work is vast and will always be a blessing. Our lives rarely turn out as we wish, "but the real truth about it is we're all supposed to try."
-----
Devoured.
I am incredibly happy this book exists. It is uneven and there are two mini typohs. Otherwise, fascinating and insightful. I have a greater understanding of the mind, work ethic, musical background, lyrical depth, and relationships of one of my favorite musicians. The last several chapters are as tragic as they have to be. They clear up some of the questions I have had about his disappearance and cryptic posts to fans toward the end of his life, though. That he died so young and so horribly is a tragedy. His body of work is vast and will always be a blessing. Our lives rarely turn out as we wish, "but the real truth about it is we're all supposed to try."
November 16, 2017
This book sketches out the character of Jason Molina as a true sketch should, it looks at where the light and shade falls, drawing with broken lines that create an impression rather than a definitive outline. The picture is created not only by looking at Jason, but by describing his surroundings. Places, people and things. It is neither sycophantic nor disrespectful. The content of the book is taken directly from interviews with Molina’s friends and family, pre-published sources, Molina’s music, and from the Secretly Canadian vaults. It is utterly heartbreaking, and a beautiful tribute to a complex artist, who is one of my favourites. Thank-you to Erin Osmon for the hard work.
October 9, 2017
As expected, this is a brutal, heartbreaking read. Considering the last few years of Molina's life this was no surprise, but it made for some very sad reading. Osmon does a terrific job piecing together Molina's life through interviews with those close to him - his wife, bandmates, the Secretly Canadian folks, and so on - which leads to a very balanced profile of a complicated human being. I wish the ending could have been different, not just because I'd love to have more music from Jason to fill my life, but also for the heartbreak his friends and family must have suffered.
September 23, 2022
Erin Osmon does an incredible job researching - truly exhaustive - but the narrative suffers from lack of editing. It reads like an eighth grade assignment, with lots of “… and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this…” type of writing.
The chronology of events also repeatedly gets confused and criss-crossed, to the point it does a big disservice to the amazing research Erin has done.
Overall, well-read but hard to read.
The chronology of events also repeatedly gets confused and criss-crossed, to the point it does a big disservice to the amazing research Erin has done.
Overall, well-read but hard to read.
January 6, 2018
wasn't crazy about the way this book was written (really repetitive, jumps around) but still a worthwhile read about one of my very favorite musicians. of course we know the ending, but the last few chapters were pretty difficult to get through. totally heartbreaking and i cried like a god dang baby.
September 25, 2017
A great account of the life of one my favourite artists. Molina was a tragic character, to see him disappear down a bottle for what turned out to be forever, must have been incredibly sad for those close to him.
This book is for big fans of Molina, or any of his bands. It's probably not for the passing fan or those who aren't familiar with his music.
This book is for big fans of Molina, or any of his bands. It's probably not for the passing fan or those who aren't familiar with his music.
August 2, 2017
There's a fairly small group of us that have interest in his story. And in the that group, a lot of people will be like me and have a staring contest with this book, as the albums gather dust because they are too hard to listen to right now...and for twenty years.
November 18, 2017
The writing was clunky at times (especially the way lyrics were incorporated into the narrative), but this read like an honest, yet respectful, account of a singular voice we lost too soon. I’ll probably be revisiting all his albums over the next little bit.
August 11, 2020
This book does an incredible job of laying out what Molina was doing at a given time, it never really provided any personal insight into him/his feelings. I understand he was a difficult person to know truly, but I expected something deeper.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews