starting today you can pre-order josephine directly from secretly canadian on lp/cd and get an instant download of the album along with a special bonus - mp3s of the record store day 7″! if for some bizarre reason you’re still undecided, a second mp3 from the album has been posted in the media section.

npr has selected ‘whip-poor-will’ as their song of the day. swing by their site to read up on it and hear a stream of the ‘josephine’ track.

the new magnolia electric co. album josephine will be released by secretly canadian on july 21st, 2009. you can nab a free mp3 of the title track over in the media section. to support the record they’ll head out july 10th on a month long tour crossing the u.s followed by a few weeks of full-band touring in europe. see tour dates for all the details.

we have signal caught up with magnolia electric co. during last fall’s tour to film the birmingham show and talk to the band. the public television program has now posted the episode online over at vimeo.

the “it’s made me cry” ep will be released digitally via itunes/emusic/etc on may 19th. as with the limited 7″, all proceeds will benefit the evan farrell memorial fund (click the link to donate!).

i’ve spoken with jason and while he’s happy to see all the business record store day 2009 brought to independent music retailers he was disappointed that so many fans were unable to obtain the 7″. he asks that rather than pay exhorbitant ebay prices (none of which will benefit evan’s family) you consider waiting for the digital release (which does).

the money you save will be better spent on the elaborate will schaff coffeetable book with the jason molina 10″ that is due out later this year on graveface records.

april 18th, 2009 marks the second annual independent record store day and this year magnolia electric co. will be in on the party with it’s made me cry, a new 7″ ep that was recorded last fall at russian recording before the u.s. tour (not to be confused with the  album they recorded at electrical audio after the tour, which now goes by the name of josephine).

the only substantial touring for the year starts next week with a handful of solo dates in england followed by two weeks of american full-band date next month.

after hitting the road this fall, magnolia electric co. will bunker down with steve albini in electrical audio to record their next album, tentatively titled ‘a map of the falling stars’. if all goes according to plan, it should see release sometime in 2009.

earlier this year jason molina (magnolia electric co.) and will johnson (centro-matic) got together to record an album. a few more details have rolled in and the word is that its due for release in early 2009 on secretly canadian after which the two hope to hit the road together.

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.