A singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist known for his soulful, unpolished style, affection for classic power pop, and association with K Records, Jason Anderson put out three albums as leader of fuzz pop outfit Wolf Colonel before releasing his first official solo album, New England, in 2004. Continuing to issue solo material -- and in the meantime playing with acts like the Microphones, Little Wings, and Mirah -- he later made his Salinas Records debut with Omaha in 2013. The cassette compilation What It Was and What We Wanted (Selected Songs 2005-2020) arrived in 2020 as he moved into more pastoral territory with self-releases including the 2021 EP We Walked Home in Silence.

A native of New Hampshire, Anderson had a handle on guitar, bass, drums, piano, and organ when he founded Wolf Colonel in 1996. Gaining a reputation for a passionate live presentation, he self-released the EP This Is Acid in 1998 before coming to the attention of K Records chief Calvin Johnson. K issued the full-length debut Vikings of Mint in early 2000, as well as the follow-up, The Castle, later the same year. The third and final Wolf Colonel LP, 2002's Something/Everything, was ultimately credited to both the project moniker and Anderson. Producers on the record included Johnson, Phil Elverum (the Microphones, Mount Eerie), and Adam Forkner (Yume Bitsu, White Rainbow). During his time with Wolf Colonel, Anderson also played guitar and drums for the Microphones, Yume Bitsu, the Blow, Mirah, and Calvin Johnson the Sons of the Soil, among others.

In March 2004, Anderson made his solo debut with the intimate New England. Issued on K, it included a song penned by Elverum, who also performed on the album, as did Johnson, Mirah, Forkner, and the Blow's Khaela Maricich. Recorded in Boise, Idaho with Jeremy Jensen, The Wreath followed in early 2005, and the rock & roll-fueled Tonight arrived on ECA Records in 2007. Among a plethora of releases in 2008 were the free, digital-only On the Street, Life Sucks Love Sucks Dose Out, and K release The Hopeful and the Unafraid, which he tracked in Chicago during a two-day break from touring.

Anderson returned in 2011 with the stripped-down, self-released Summer Style before signing with Detroit-based Salinas Records. Recorded with a backing band, his debut for the label, Omaha, appeared in mid-2013. He surfaced on the Burst Bloom Records compilation Songs for Pam in 2018, and in 2019 he released a monthly series of "lost sessions" from excavated hard drives, CD-Rs, and cassettes. His Salinas follow-up, Restless, eventually saw release in March 2020, prior to the December release of What It Was and What We Wanted (Selected Songs 2005-2020), a selection of demos and rarities curated by Portland cassette label Antiquated Future Records. By then having put down roots in New Brunswick, Canada, Anderson issued the reflective We Walked Home in Silence EP in early 2021. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi