The Magnolia Electric Co.

The album was engineered and produced by Albini, who described a stage band developing a band identity rather than playing for Jason. Molina plays voice and guitar, with Jennie Benford on voice and mandolin, Mike Brenner on lap steel, Jim Three Nickel Grabowski on piano, organ and Wurlitzer, Dan Macadam on guitar, voice and violin, Dan Sullivan on guitar, Rob Sullivan on bass and Jeff Panall on drums, with Lawrence Peters singing on "The Old Black Hen" and Scout Niblett on "Peoria Lunchbox Blues". Molina wrote before release that the band was going for a sort of 1950's sound, ancient echo techniques on the vox, with doo-wop backing singers. The 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (November 12, 2013) added two outtakes, "The Big Game Is Every Night" and "Whip Poor Will", and nine demos.

Metacritic scores it 85; Pitchfork gave it 8.2 in 2003 and 9.0 in 2013, PopMatters 9 out of 10, with Patrick Gill calling it the turning point and apex of Molina's brief life and career, and Stereogum's Chris DeVille called it triumphantly bleak and his magnum opus. The cover art is by William Schaff.