MJ Lenderman
North & South America, Asia, Australia
about the artist
MJ Lenderman is a songwriter born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. The anatomy of an MJ record might go something like this: warped pedal steels and skuzzed out guitar; a voice reminiscent of the high-lonesome warble of a choirboy. Songs snake their way from a lo-fi home recording to something glossier made with longtime friends at Asheville's Drop of Sun studios, but the recording setting doesn't seem to matter much — at its core, a Lenderman song rings true.
These are stories about everything from a relationship disintegrating outside the high-end butcher shop to a sighting of football starMore
MJ Lenderman is a songwriter born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. The anatomy of an MJ record might go something like this: warped pedal steels and skuzzed out guitar; a voice reminiscent of the high-lonesome warble of a choirboy. Songs snake their way from a lo-fi home recording to something glossier made with longtime friends at Asheville's Drop of Sun studios, but the recording setting doesn't seem to matter much — at its core, a Lenderman song rings true.
These are stories about everything from a relationship disintegrating outside the high-end butcher shop to a sighting of football star Dan Marino at the local Harris Teeter; from a love song built around a t-shirt kiosk at the airport, or the malaise of a grill rusting in the rain. And those are just some of the things you might find across his three solo records: MJ Lenderman (2019), Ghost of Your Guitar Solo (2021), and break-through acclaimed studio debut, Boat Songs (2022). Lenderman's songwriting is simple and true, stories delivered with a loping, easy vibe — a shrug of the shoulders, off-the-cuff guitar riffs fuzzy, a tangle of pedal steel and rock 'n' roll distortion culminating in alt-country cacophony. An MJ Lenderman song feels like a postcard from a hazy memory, the unpredictable bits and details that end up sticking — bird songs from the rafters of a hardware store, a real good Bob Dylan cover — and what make a story whole.
KNOCKIN
I wrote Knockin after Boat Songs was recorded but before it was released. It was originally a part of an EP I recorded at home mostly by myself. I was spending a lot of time watching John Daly videos and came across a rendition he does of Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." Daly's version includes an extra verse about golfing. My "Knockin" became a staple of the MJ Lenderman & The Wind live set and it felt like a good idea to re-record it professionally.
RUDOLPH
Rudolph was the first song I wrote after the release of Boat Songs. I had been sitting on the guitar part for a long time and slowly worked out the song whenever I could in between tours in 2022. I finished the lyrics with my friend one late night after a Wednesday gig in Atlanta.