UPDATE Jay Reatard R.I.P. 1980-2010

Found early this morning in the bed of his Memphis home.

By Fred Mills

Word is getting out that the body of Memphis garage-rock maverick Jay Reatard (real name: Jimmy Lee Lindsey) was discovered in his bed at his Midtown home early this morning, Jan. 13.  The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that "family and friends" disclosed this information, and that the cause of death has not been announced pending an autopsy and a police investigation. The musician was 29.

Reatard's early label, Goner Records, posted a statement, saying "It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our good friend Jay Reatard. Jay died in his sleep last night. We will pass along information about funeral arrangements when they are made public."

Meanwhile, his most recent label, Matador, also expressed their sorrow in a statement that read "We are devastated by the death of Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., aka Jay Reatard. Jay was as full of life as anyone we've ever met, and responsible for so many memorable moments as a person and artist. We're honored to have known and worked with him, and we will miss him terribly."

At this point any speculation is questionable, although the obvious thing to note is that Reatard had demonstrated some mildly erratic behavior in the recent past leading up to and following the release of his Matador album Watch Me Fall, so questions of a substance-induced death will certainly be raised. Back in October there was that incident when, following the conclusion of one leg of a fall tour supporting the record, Reatard's band quit on him, leading to some bizarre Twitters and his former bandmembers hooking up with Wavves.

Last month an Austin performance ended on a violent note when a pair of audience members jumped onstage to attack Reatard, although this wasn't specifically of Reatard's doing (although it should be said that he'd been known to deliberately provoke the audience). And then just two days ago there was that so-called beef he was havaing with Jersey band Liquor Store, which he alleged had slashed the tires of his tour van, leading him to post to Twitter, "I will give anyone a hundred bucks per tire that they pop on the band Liquor Store's van! Yes I'm serious." So again, speculation as to Reatard's mental and physical condition prior to his death will no doubt run rampant during this upcoming news cycle.

At any rate, it's a tragic loss of one of our most engaging and stimulating indie rockers. We recently featured an exclusive interview with Reatard in the print edition of BLURT and will be revisiting that tomorrow on the website in tribute to the musician. We'd also like to express our condolences to his family and circle of Memphis friends.

 UPDATE:

Numerous media outlets are now reporting, based on a note originally posted to the web by CMJ, that Reatard's death has been attributed to an overdose. CMJ wrote, "CMJ was told by an undisclosed source close to Reatard that he died of an overdose although according to a Matador Records representative an autopsy has yet to be conducted nor the cause of death determined." However, nothing has been confirmed as of yet.