Jason V. Narducy is an American musician from Evanston, Illinois, After receiving a mandolin at the age of 7] and his first guitar at age nine Narducy started his music career, playing guitar and writing songs for his punk rock band, Verboten. Verboten is credited as inspiring Dave Grohl to pursue music, Narducy is featured in the Foo Fighters HBO documentary Sonic Highways.
After college, he formed an acoustic duo with cellist Alison Chesley called Jason & Alison. They released the full-length album “Woodshed” in 1994. Jason & Alison became a four-piece rock band called Verbow in 1996, adding drums and bass. Narducy was lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter on Verbow’s two full-length albums released on Epic Records: “Chronicles” (1997) and “White Out” (2000).
Verbow went on hiatus in 2002. Narducy formed the band Rockets Over Sweden which released an EP in 2004 titled “Penny Coliseum”. Verbow celebrated the release of “Live At Schubas” in 2010 with a sold-out reunion show in Chicago.
In 2005, Narducy began touring with Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar) as bassist and backing vocalist. Narducy has since joined Mould in the studio and performed on Mould’s last six albums: “Silver Age”, “Beauty & Ruin”, “Patch the Sky”, “Sunshine Rock”, “Blue Hearts”, and “Here We Go Crazy“.
In June, 2013, Narducy began touring with Superchunk, filling in for bassist Laura Ballance as she deals with hyperacusis. He also played bass and sang backing vocals with Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices), Boston Spaceships, Eddie Vedder, Liz Phair, and The Pretenders.
Narducy’s current solo project is Split Single. Split Single released its debut record, “Fragmented World”, April 2014 with Britt Daniel playing bass guitar and Jon Wurster on drums.
In 2016, Split Single released its second album, “Metal Frames”, this time featuring Wurster and Wilco’s John Stirratt on bass. A third album, “Amplificado“, featuring Wurster and R.E.M.’s Mike Mills on bass and backing vocals, followed in 2021.
In 2022, Narducy announced that he would be touring with the band Sunny Day Real Estate on their reunion 2022 tour, playing guitar and providing backup vocals. In 2024, Narducy toured with Michael Shannon, performing R.E.M. songs including the “Murmur” album in its entirety.
In addition to “Murmur”, included all of REM’s debut EP, “Chronic Town“, a good chunk of Reckoning and then a smattering of songs from “Fables of the Reconstruction”, “Life’s Rich Pageant”, “Document”, “Out of Time“, a couple covers and more.
“It dumbfounds and delights me that we continue our crusade through this astounding catalogue of music from one of America’s most influential and unique bands,” Shannon says. “Now we find ourselves at a summit, we’re all pinching ourselves in disbelief to be so lucky. The most strange and beautiful adventure. Narducy adds: “I’m thrilled to join Michael and our band in celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s monumental fourth album. This impeccable collection of songs meant so much to me when I first heard them and they continue to inspire and invigorate me.”
Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy are on their third R.E.M. tribute tour, which this time out celebrates the 40th anniversary of “Lifes Rich Pageant”. around this time last year, when they were celebrating “Fables of the Reconstruction“, they had a very special guest on hand: R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe.
Before Stipe came out, Shannon, Narducy, and their band, which included Jon Wurster (drums), John Stirratt (bass), Dag Juhlin (guitar), and Vijay Tellis-Nayak (keyboards), played “Lifes Rich Pageant” in track order, then moving on to other songs from throughout R.E.M.’s discography. Before playing “Fireplace,” Shannon asked the crowd if they’d like them to do “Document” next year, and said they’d give them a sneak preview. Lance Bangs was also on hand to film the proceedings;
In related news, Jason Narducy will release a memoir, “Mostly The Van”, . “It is a collection of stories I wrote involving some of the peculiar, awkward, and sometimes inspiring moments in my music life,” Jason says. “For instance, I completely forgot lyrics for a live Blue Note Records recording at Green Mill, during COVID lockdown I played ‘House of the Rising Sun’ with a man on his 70th birthday in his driveway – his first time playing with another person in 48 years, I delivered ‘non-discriminatory’ pizza to a homophonic pizza restaurant in Indiana, I got lost in a Nazi bunker in Hamburg with Bob Mould, and many more odd tales, mostly from the band van.
The Fat Angel Sings 