J. Tillman

J. Tillman biography

Joshua Tillman (born May 3, 1981) is an American folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is also the former drummer for the Philadelphia-based band Saxon Shore (2001 to 2004) and the Seattle-based band Fleet Foxes (2008 to 2012). He departed the Fleet Foxes to focus on his solo album under the moniker Father John Misty. After dropping out of college in New York, Josh Tillman moved to Seattle and spent a year paying rent by freelance writing and donating plasma. Befriending Eric Fisher (Damien Jurado, Rosie Thomas) while on tour in the fall on 2004, Tillman coerced him into recording what would become "I Will Return," a full-length reminiscent of the southern-gothic writings of Flannery O'Conner and the music of Nick Drake and Pete Seeger. The CD-R would be distributed and promoted word-of-mouth in paper sleeves while on the road (with acts such as Damien Jurado, Dolorean and Saxon Shore) for over a year until spring 2005 when KEEP Recordings offered to release a limited, special edition run of the record. Tillman continues to record constantly, finshing a full-length with Fisher entitled " Long May You Run, J. Tillman." Tilman's fifth solo album Vacilando Territory Blues featuring his mournful vocals, backed by sparse and doleful acoustic guitar with occasionally understated piano, bells and violin was well-received critically in 2008 before release and earned him comparisons to Nick Drake. Since then, Tillman has released 'Year In The Kingdom' (Western Vinyl, 2009) and 'Singing Ax' (Western Vinyl, 2010). Note that Tillman is sometimes tagged by download services as J Tillman.