Deer painting by unknown Native American artist from the Acee Blue Eagle Papers, 1935
If you're the kind of person that cares about such things, you've probably already heard that Jay Reatard's sudden unexpected passing was announced yesterday. He was 29. This was hard news for me because Jay was the kind of songwriter I get really excited about, endlessly prolific and restless with an understanding of a lot of different traditions and styles of songwriting. He was a punk, a garage-rocker, a power-pop guy, and a lo-fi home recording artist. He said in an interview once that he was driven to create and release music by a fear of running out of time, and there's no denying that he ran out of time too soon. He ended up on my Best of the Year lists in 2008 and 2009, but I was always most excited about where he was going with his music. Just recently I was listening to the last song off his last album, "There Is No Sun", and thinking, "This guy just keeps getting better."
I don't want to get into a discussion of Jay's controversial public persona, but his naked ambition and restlessness drove him to create some amazing songs and records. And now I'm left feeling that we've all been robbed of the music Jay would have gone on to produce. And from what I've heard from people that knew him, that's nothing compared to the loss felt by those who were close to him.
"An Ugly Death" by Jay Reatard
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