2003 photo of the band, by Drew Goren
"He is our savior. We love him and intend on keeping him for a long time to come."- Jim James
(Pitchfork interview, August 2002)
Patrick Hallahan
According to an interview with Drum Magazine Patrick Hallahan joined his first band in 7th grade, a band that also featured Jim James. Hallahan eventually joined other bands and in 1997 he started studying at the University Of Louisville, though he later ended up taking a break.
During this period of time childhood friend James was working on My Morning Jacket's debut album, The Tennessee Fire. Hallahan and James had kept in touch and according to the same Drum Magazine interview, Hallahan was one of the band's biggest fans, but nothing more, due to a pact the two had made earlier.
"Jim and I vowed never to be in a band together. We didn’t want that. Our friendship was too valuable."- Patrick Hallahan
(Drum Magazine interview, August 2008)
However in 2001, one day after Hallahan had received an acceptance letter to an engineering program, James called saying that the band's current drummer Chris Guetig, was leaving the band, and James needed help.
"I said, ‘Oh God, I thought we weren’t going to be in a band together?’ It was really strange because I was such a fan and a friend. I felt like I was playing my friend’s music,I was playing in a My Morning Jacket cover band, but it was My Morning Jacket."- Patrick Hallahan
(Drum Magazine interview, August 2008)
The band then began to work on 2003's It Still Moves and according to the previously mentioned Drum Magazine interview, Hallahan states that the experience was like putting on his favorite shirt.
"It was an easy transition. I knew everybody in the band then for so long, just walking into that situation was, ‘Oh, I can’t believe you’re in the band, this is too easy.’ I was playing that music that I had been listening to for so long. It was strange. Then again, nothing about this band is normal."- Patrick Hallahan
(Drum Magazine interview, August 2008)
