The surviving members of Magnolia Electric Co. band together with Will Johnson for a tribute to their late friend Jason Molina. The new group, Magnolia and Johnson Electric Co., will play Midwest dates in August.
Magnolia and Johnson Electric Co. is a new musical partnership between Jason Molina’s longtime bandmates in Magnolia Electric Co. and Texas musician Will Johnson of Centro-Matic, South San Gabriel, and Jason Isbell’s band the 400 Unit. Also a prolific solo artist, Johnson’s 2025 solo album Diamond City is critically acclaimed. In 2009, he and the late Ohio songwriter released the collaborative album Molina and Johnson, a beloved and sacred work among Molina fans, which the pair never toured behind due to Molina’s struggle with alcohol use disorder.
Today, the new group performs loving, spirited, and powerful versions of songs from Molina’s Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. catalogs. As a friend and close artistic ally, Johnson is a very natural and respectful stand-in for Molina on lead vocals. Like his late friend, Johnson was born in the Midwest and raised on Southern culture and artistry; he’s one of few people who can approximate Molina’s distinct Mid-South sound and perspective in a capable way. And nearly 20 years on, the members of Magnolia Electric Co., who’ve remained friends and musical collaborators, play like a singularly connected unit driven by psychic force.
In September 2025, Magnolia and Johnson Electric Co. released a three song EP on the Austin-based label Keeled Scales, which features new arrangements and studio recordings of two songs from the Molina and Johnson record - “Wooden Heart” and “Twenty Cycles to the Ground” – and a studio version of the Magnolia classic “The Big Beast,” which, previously, was only ever captured live.
The band has played eleven capacity shows in Texas, the Southeast, and the Northeast, both to celebrate the release of the Magnolia and Johnson Electric Co. EP and pay tribute to their work with Molina. The tour continues on in some very important and significant cities to both Molina and his bandmates in August, starting in Bloomington, IN (former home to Molina and most of his band, plus the home of their long-time record label, Secretly Canadian), Chicago, IL (Molina’s former home and the location of the recording of most of Magnolia’s records), Louisville, KY (the site of the recording of the Amalgamated Songs of Rest EP with Molina, Will Oldham, and Alasdair Roberts), and Cleveland, OH (just miles from Molina’s hometown of Lorain, OH, and a thematic fixture in many of Molina’s songs).
Expect multiple sets and a solemn yet celebratory evening in memory of Jason Molina — their bandmate, collaborator, and friend.
