On May 12th 2006 Chicago Tribune published an interview with Jim James and Tom Blankenship, done by Fauzia Arain. The original interview can be found here.
Keywords: Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash leave the band,
When pneumonia knocked down My Morning Jacket lead singer Jim James after Thanksgiving last year, what followed was a crash course in learning to say no.
It started with a particularly painful lesson--when his band turned down a gig opening for the Black Crowes on New Year's Eve at Madison Square Garden.
"[The pneumonia] totally wore me down and destroyed me," says James, from his hometown of Louisville. "This year we're trying to tour a little less and tour a little smarter, just trying to do things here and there."
One solid reality check later, the earnest Americana rockers with a stunning, expansive sound charged on with their plans to support last year's lauded "Z" (ATO). Their highest-profile achievement brings them to the United Center Tuesday and Wednesday--opening for Pearl Jam's current tour, an honor shared with icons Sonic Youth and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who are opening different legs of the tour.
Clearly, slowing down isn't all that leisurely for this band, but the relentless drive is probably what landed the quintet in the heat-seeking seat they've occupied for at least the last four years. That growth spurt also triggered two original members to quit the band, on good terms, in favor of a stationary, home-focused life.
"[Drummer] Patrick [Hallahan], Jim and I were standing in the hallway of this hotel in London after those two quit, and Jim looked at me and he's like, `What do you think? What're you gonna do?' and I'm like, `I'll be around. I'm still here,'" relays bassist Two-Tone Tommy.
That's the kind of easy strength and quiet confidence that runs through the band's southern veins--relaxed yet far from lazy. "It's just in the nature of the band that we never depended on anything," Tommy adds. "If we were told, y'know, `You'll make a million dollars per show for the rest of your life,' we'd just never believe anything that we're ever told. I guess our philosophy was just to work as hard as we can and not expect too much in return."
That has led band members to seek out alternate creative outlets. Such collaborations have included a solo tour for James with Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and singer-songwriter Matt Ward (a.k.a. M. Ward); guest spots on both of those artists' albums by James and the rest of the band; plus a short tour as M. Ward's backing band.
But the ambitions stretch far beyond there, as James notes. "I've got a lot of dreams in my head, but I'd really like to work with Kanye West or Andre or Big Boi from OutKast," James says. "I've always wanted to work with [Radiohead producer] Nigel Godrich, and I've been wanting to do something with Vic Chestnut lately. I've always really liked his music, and I've always had kind of a dream scenario of us being his backing band or studio band for one of his records."
There's a common, positive sentiment among those who cross paths with My Morning Jacket, a group that often picks up fans and friends on the road.
"Just from hearing [Jim's] voice I knew there was soul in the music. The melodies, too, but it was the voice that struck me," recalls Ward of his impression of My Morning Jacket's music before meeting them. "It's very wide-screen and epic, and it makes me feel good about life. He comes to music from a very humble perspective and it's from people like that I get a lot of inspiration. He sees himself as part of the bigger picture of music, and not as the big picture."
They've already got a head start on winning over Pearl Jam, a band both James and Two-Tone Tommy say they were "huge" fans of when "Ten" (Epic) was released in 1991.
The bands, it turns out, share some unique credits. In April, Esquire Magazine awarded James the best songwriter Esky Award, while Pearl Jam picked up the Esky for best live act. My Morning Jacket appeared in Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" as the band Ruckus, covering Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" while Pearl Jam appeared as Citizen Dick in Crowe's '92 film "Singles."
James admits that his first band, in junior high, learned to play every song off of "Ten" and the "Singles" tracks in his buddy's garage. "I was insanely, crazily a fan. I'm still a big fan, but back then we were over the edge," he says. His first Pearl Jam live show was just last year.
"It was insane to see them play in a tiny record store for like 200 people," he recalls. "It just blew my mind, 'cause I didn't know whether I would still connect with them or not, and seeing them play in a tiny, tiny space ... there was a couple points where it was pretty emotional. Some of those songs I just really, really loved, and seeing them play just really transported me back to what made me love music in the first place."
