Song of the Week: ‘Alone With The Owl’ from Sarah Jaffe

This cover of Jason Molina’s Alone With The Owl has been playing non-stop since it started streaming from the Rock The Cause Soundcloud page.  It appears as part of the tribute album for the late Molina that is set for release on April 22nd (pre-order via iTunes) – Farewell Transmission, The Music of Jason Molina.  The album is a double disc with this song definitely being one of the standouts – there are 27 tracks so this thing is HUGE – and loaded with some of my favourite artists and some serious talent.  I am glad Jaffe did this particular track because it is from Molina’s solo album Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go which is a personal all time favourite of mine and she does justice on her track from start to end.

The project has been coming for a little bit now and started with our good friend April over at Common Folk Music who got together with Chris Mateer of Uprooted Music Revue to plan a tribute to Molina.  As you can see from the below tracklisting, they found some great acts to be part of it all.  Seriously, these guys assisted in getting some great acts!!  Rock the Cause is playing quarterback on the project and are releasing it via their non-profit label this coming April.   Portions of the net proceeds will be sent to MusisCares and the Molina family respectively.

Tracklisting

Disc  1

1. Get Out Get Out Get Out – Squares
2. Arm In Arm – Memorial Electric Co
3. Farewell Transmission – My Morning Jacket
4. Lioness – Enemy Planes
5. 7th Street Wonderland – Murder By Death
6. Alone With The Owl – Sarah Jaffe
7. Old Black Hen – Jonah Tolchin
8. Leave This City – Ben Lubeck of Farewell Milwaukee
9. Two Blue Lights – The Black Swans
10. Almost Was Good Enough – Bro Stephen ft. Jim James
11. Didn’t It Rain – Box Of Baby Birds
12. Memphis Moon – Cory Branan
13. The Dark Don’t Hide It – Gabriel Douglas ft. Drew Preiner
14. I’ve Been Riding With The Ghost – Fathom Lane

Disc 2

1. Trouble In Mind (Fade To Blue) – Memorial Electric Co
2. I Can Not Have Seen The Light – Matt Bauer and Heather McEntire
3. 34 Blues – Will Johnson and Briton Biesenherz
4. Hammer Down – Jim and Jennie & The Pinetops
5. Just Be Simple – Water Liars
6. Steve Albini’s Blues – Catherine Irwin
7. White Sulfur – Nathan Salsburg & Joan Shelley
8. Don’t This Look Like The Dark – Wooden Wand
9. Heart My Heart  – Luke Redfield
10. Lioness – Viking Moses
11. The Big Game Is Every Night – Bottomless Pit
12. Hold On Magnolia – Communist Daughter
13. John Henry Split My Heart – Jonny James and The Hall of Fames

Again, Sarah Jaffe’s tribute is standout – the clearly defined essence of Molina’s sound is felt immediately.  The piano, sombre and haunting lead you down a path to the track, Jaffe comes in and beautifully translates those lyrics.  Those lyrics that easily show a glimpse into what Molina must have been living with – while stunningly beautiful, they can be terrifyingly real.  This is a great collection of songs for a great cause for an amazing musician.

I am sure you will find more updates on this tribute here on Slowcoustic by the time this comes out, so stick around and keep an ear out.

~Sandy