Jason Molina's morbid Americana still survives

LZ Granderson: Jason Molina's death at 39 was tragic, above all, for friends and family who were denied his company.

LZ: Molina’s music was very American, evokes rural and urban, or, for precision's sake, the natural and the industrial.

He wrote more than an album a year between 1997 and 2009, under his own name and as Songs: Ohia and under band name Magnolia Electric Co. Granderson says Molina was the finest songwriter in the USA.

Ben Sixsmith: Molina's artistic life ended after 2009, but he had the spark of American optimism.

Molina was drifting in and out of treatment programs, sometimes making a valiant effort to escape the booze and sometimes sinking back into its grasp.

He says Molina had bought a new guitar, set up a recording space in his apartment, and jotted down a few scraps of songs.