J. Tillman

Singer/songwriter J. Tillman's music paints languid, sadly beautiful portraits of love and life on the margins with the moody depth of Nick Drake and the country-influenced textures of Ryan Adams. Tillman first made a name for himself playing drums in a pair of indie rock bands, Saxon Shore and Stately, while attending college in New York City, but in his spare time he began writing material of his own, citing the music of Nick Drake and Pete Seeger and the writings of Flannery O'Connor as key influences. Some of Tillman's demos found their way to Damien Jurado, who invited Tillman to join his band for a tour. Tillman played solo sets during several dates on the tour and began distributing CD-R copies of an early collection of tunes called I Will Return. During the tour, Tillman struck up a friendship with Eric Fisher, who produced another CD-R album, Long May You Run, J. Tillman, and Tillman and Jurado signed on for a U.S. tour with Richard Buckner, where Tillman once again found a ready audience for home-burned copies of his disc. In 2006, the independent Fargo Records label released Tillman's first properly distributed solo album, Minor Works, and Keep Records reissued I Will Return and Long May You Run as a two-disc set the same year. In 2007, Yer Bird Records released Tillman's fourth, more elaborately arranged album, Cancer and Delirium.