Discography + DVDs

View the MMJ discography as well as the DVDs (plural as a sign of hope that there soon will be more entries). View the most recent albums below this post, or sort through them by category or click any specific in the list.

Studio albums

Circuital--------------------Evil Urges ------------------------- Z----

------It Still Moves -------------- At Dawn ------------- The Tennessee Fire

Circuital (2011)
Evil Urges (2008)
Z (2005)
It Still Moves (2003)
At Dawn (2001)
The Tennesee Fire (1999)

Live albums and EPs

-----Celebración --------Live from Las Vegas --------Okonokos---------

Celebración de la Ciudad Natal (2009)
Live from Las Vegas Exclusively at the Palms (2009)
Okonokos (2006)
Acoustic Citsuoca (2004)

Demos/B-sides

 -------- Demo Package ---- The Sandworm Cometh -------- Learning------------

At Dawn/Tennessee Fire Demos Package (2007)

Early Recordings: Chapter 2: Learning (2004)

Early Recordings: Chapter 1: The Sandworm Cometh (2004)

EPs

Split

My Morning Jacket iTunes session (2011)
Sweatbees (2002)
Chocolate and Ice (2002)
My Morning Jacket/Songs: Ohia Split EP (2002)
My Morning Jacket Does Xmas Fiasco Style (2000)
Heartbreaking Man (2000)

Singles
Holdin' On To Black Metal (2011)
I'm Amazed (2008)
Off The Record (2005)
Run Thru (2003)
Just Because I Do (2003)
My Morning Jacket Does Gold Hole (2001)
My Morning Jacket Does Bad Jazz (2000)

Appearances 
Muppets: The Green Album (2011)    
Rave On Buddy Holly (2011)    
Booker T. Jones – The Road From Memphis (2011)    
Dear New Orleans (2010)    
Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine (2010)    
Twistable Turnable Man: A Musical Tribute to The Songs of Shel Silverstein (2010)    
Dark Was The Night (2009)    
Heroes – Original Soundtrack (2008)    
Endless Highway – The Music of The Band (2007)    
Elizabethtown – Music from The Motion Picture (2005)    
A Gift From A Garden To A Flower: A Tribute to Donovan (2002)    
Louisville is for Lovers Compilations (2001-2010)    
Darla Compilations (1999-2002)

Solo
Carl Broemel – All Birds Say (2010)    
Yim Yames – Tribute To (2009)

My Morning Jacket iTunes session

Available for purchase here

On December 6th 2011 My Morning Jacket released a special holiday EP titled My Morning Jacket: iTunes session via iTunes. The EP was recorded in Amsterdam while the band was on tour in Europe and features guest vocals from The Head And The Heart. The EP also features covers of Christmas favorites along with one brand new song called Welcome Home and a alternative version of Circuital’s Wonderful (The Way I Feel).

1. I'll Be Home for Christmas (featuring The Head and the Heart)
2. Welcome Home
3. Please Come Home for Christmas
4. Christmas Must Be Tonight
5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
6. Wonderful
7. When the Bells Start Ringing (featuring The Head and the Heart)
8. Interview

Celebración de la Ciudad Natal

Cover of Celebración de la Ciudad Natal

On Record Store Day, April 18 2009 My Morning Jacket released eight song EP Celebración de la Ciudad Natal. The EP is made out of two live recordings, one at indie music store Ear-X-Tacy and one at the band's Waterfront Park concert, both in the bands hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

 Tracklist

1. Evil Urges - 6:01
2. Highly Suspicious - 3:13
3. Ear X-tacy speech
4. Gideon - 4:04
5. Where To Begin 3:58
6. Librarian - 4:31
7. Phone Went West 8:59
8. Dondante - 14:31

Exclusive video for the Celebración De La Ciudad Natal EP release

In a statement about the release the band wrote:

Now more than ever we all need to take the time to celebrate what our favorite local record stores and businesses mean to us – the value of community/human to human, non- internet related physical and spiritual contact and supporting the hardworking people in your community who strive everyday to keep it unique and keep it local. We are fortunate in our travels to get to see many wonderful things, but one of the most distressing things is the increasing “normalization” of the world and how all these places are starting to look the same. Everywhere you look more and more towns are starting to be filled with the same gigantic corporations and while some of these huge companies undoubtably provide valuable services, it is so important that we realize that it is our local businesses and people (and natural landscapes, but thats a different letter) that are what make different towns worth coming to. Things you can only get in one place, made and sold by people who believe in what they are doing. People who are trying to keep good weirdness alive in this crazy dome. god* bless all of you, and god* bless the world and all that kinda shit.

- yer pals, my morning jacket p.s.- *the word “god*” is used here meaning anything you want it to mean and is a trademark of globo-chem worldwide.

Evil Urges

Cover of Evil Urges

Available for purchase here

On June 10th 2008 My Morning Jacket released their fifth studio album on ATO Records. The album was named Evil Urges and contains 14 tracks.

1. Evil Urges
2. Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 1
3. Highly Suspicious
4. I'm Amazed
5. Thank You Too!
6. Sec Walkin
7. Two Halves
8. Librarian
9. Look At You
10. Aluminum Park
11. Remnants
12. Smokin' From Shootin'
13. Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2
14. Good Intentions

The album features Jim James, Two Tone Tommy, Patrick Hallahan, Carl Broemel and Bo Koster.

All songs are written by Jim James, except "breakdown" of Evil Urges, which is credited to My Morning Jacket. The album was produced by Jim James and Joe Chiccarelli.

Recording
Hideaway Studio
In an 2008 interview with the band (Vanity Fair interview) Jim James said that the album slowly came together over a couple of years. In June 2007 the band spent a month in a rented cabin/studio (Hideaway Studio) in Colorado Springs (Vanity Fair interview and Magnet interview). In the Vanity Fair interview James also said that during this visit the band had 22 or 23 songs that they played around and learned. In other interviews James has also stated that the band was conflicted when deciding which songs would be on the album, at one point they even considered making the record into two separate pieces (Magnet Magazine). Read more about the band's time at Hideaway Studios here.

Manhattan
The band recorded the album in Manhattan, New York. In a 2002 interview Tom Blankenship explained that the band intentionally set out to have a different recording environment than the last time (Aquarian Weekly).

My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges EPK 2008

In an another interview the band describes the studio as both uncomfortable and cramped, but they also point out that this kept them focused on the task at hand (msnbc). More about the recordings in Manhattan here.

Emotional aspect
In retrospect Jim James has said that Evil Urges was the the hardest record the band's ever made (Rolling Stone) and in an 2010 interview Patrick Hallahan voiced similar opinions (Democrat and Chronicle). Read more about the band's thoughts on the subject here.

Sound/themes
In an 2008 interview Jim James says that the band both wanted to try a different sound, as well as a more seamless sound (msnbc). James brings up the band's drumming as an example, saying that it's so tight that sometimes you might be confused if it's a real person playing. In the same interview producer Joe Chiccarelli states that in his opinion Evil Urges is is the most instantly accessible, groove-oriented batch of songs that the band has done. Read more about the sound and themes here.

Influences

Coming soon...

Expectations
In an 2008 interview Jim James pointed out that it's impossible to please everyone and that he didn't want to do the same thing over and over again, but noted that there are people who would be most happy with if the band kept remaking The Tennessee Fire (AV Club). However James concluded that the end of the day the record makes itself what it wants to be and that there's only so much the band can do to meet people’s expectations, or not meet them. Read more about the bands thoughts on expectations here.

Carl Broemel, Tom Blankenship, SXSW 2008, photo by Kyle Matteson

Critical reception

In January 2009 Evil Urges ended up on the 16th spot on Spin Magazine's list of the 40 best albums of 2008.

The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative rock Album.

Album leak
Coming soon...

We’re still kind of old-fashioned with things. We understand it’s the 90s. [Reader, that’s what he said; your guess is as good as mine.] But also I feel like there’s some people who still are like us and still get excited about getting an album when a band says they can have an album. Because there’s a reason that album is supposed to come out a certain date—there’s a whole logic behind the thing.

- Jim James, talking about the album leak
(Vanity Fair interview, June 2008)

At Dawn/Tennessee Fire Demos Package

 On June 11th 2007 My Morning Jacket released the At Dawn/Tennessee Fire Demos Package, the package contains 20 songs.

1. L.O.Z. Intro
2. The Way That He Sings (demo)
3. Hopefully (demo)
4. Bermuda Highway (demo)
5. Just Because I Do (demo)
6. Lowdown (demo)
7. At Dawn (demo)
8. I Needed It Most (demo)
9. Lead Me Father (demo)
10. Phone Went West (demo)
11. Chills (demo)
12. Heartbreakin' Man (demo)
13. The Bear (demo)
14. Picture of You (demo)
15. I Think I'm Going to Hell (demo)
16. Butch Cassidy (demo)
17. War Begun (Live WFPK)
18. Twilight (Live WFPK)
19. Lil Billy (Live Nashvegas)
20. Magic Man

Okonokos (CD)

Okonokos (DVD)

Interviewer: I’m not sure how to say it—Okonokos?
Jim James: Oh-kuh-NO-kos, yeah. I’m not one of those guys that’s really into pronunciation. I’ve got such a weird last name, I’m used to hearing people pronounce it all different ways.

- Jim James
(Vanity fair interview, May 2009)

Cover photo of Okonokos

On the 31th of October 2006 My Morning Jacket released concert DVD Okonokos, which was recorded during the band's fall 2005 Z Tour, during two nights (November 11-12th) at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California. The DVD was released on ATO records and runs for 118 minutes.

Track List
1. The Party
2. Wordless Chorus
3. It Beats 4 U
4. Gideon
5. One Big Holiday
6. I Will Sing You Songs
7. Lowdown
8. The Way That He Sings
9. What A Wonderful Man
10. Off The Record
11. Golden
12. Lay Low
13. Dondante
14. Run Thru
15. Xmas Curtain
16. O Is The One That Is Real
17. Steam Engine
18. Anytime
19. Mahgeetah
20. The Attack

"Then I wanted to add some other aspect to the film where, when you got it and you popped it in, you almost thought, Did I get the wrong DVD from the factory?"

- Jim James, talking about Okonokos
(Vanity fair interview, May 2009)

Z

 Cover of Z

On October 4th 2005 My Morning Jacket released their fourth studio album on ATO Records. The album was named Z and contains 10 tracks.

1. Wordless Chorus – 4:12
2. It Beats 4 U – 3:46
3. Gideon – 3:39
4. What a Wonderful Man – 2:25
5. Off the Record* – 5:33
6. Into the Woods - 5:21
7. Anytime – 3:56
8. Lay Low – 6:05
9. Knot Comes Loose – 4:02
10. Dondante – 8:01

The album features Jim James, Two Tone Tommy, Patrick Hallahan, Carl Broemel and Bo Koster.

All songs are written by Jim James, except Off the Record, which is credited to Jim James, Tom Blankenship and Patrick Hallahan. The album was produced by Jim James and John Leckie.

The Japanese pressing of the album contains the B-side Chills; digital copies include the other b-side How Could I Know as well.

Recording
Allaire Studios
Z is the first album where the band choose to record away from the Quaid family farm which had served as the inspiration for their first three albums. Instead, My Morning Jacket decided to record in New York's Allaire Studios, nestled deep in the Catskill Mountains of New York. In an 2005 interview Tom Blankenship explained that it didn't feel right to go back to the studio that was used for the previous records and that after having added Bo Koster and Carl Broemel to the band, the band felt ready to do things differently (RS). More about the band's time at Allaire Studios can be found here.

Production
Production of the album was headed by John Leckie, famous for previous work with bands such as The Stone Roses and Radiohead. This is the first My Morning Jacket album to feature a producer, as Jim James had assumed the production duties on the band's previous efforts.

Emotional aspect
In a 2010 interview with am New York Tom Blankenship looks back on previous records, commenting on how recording Z affected the band.

"I’m 27 and can’t shake the feeling that this next album will be my last. This album is the sound and feeling of the band wordlessly battling the dark elements and coming through the other side in one stronger piece."

- Tom Blankenship
(am New York interview, October 2010)

Album details
The title & the album cover art
 Both the album title and cover art has been discussed, in a 2005 interview Jim James talks about the title, ultimately saying that he speaks through music and lyrics and that he wanted to get away from speaking with the title of the album and use something that didn't mean anything at all. In a 2006 interview Tom Blankenship commented on the album as well, explaining some misconceptions about the title, read more here. The artist behind the album cover art is Louisville artist Kathleen Lolley, in an interview with LEO weekly from April 2010 Lolley said that she was very honored that Jim James asked her to do the cover, however James originally selected another image, more about that here.

Sound/themes
In a 2005 interview Jim James explained that the band has always tried to progress and that while Z definitely was the most different album they had done, he didn't feel it wasn't radically so (PM). James also stated in a 2008 interview that he considers Z to be a bridge between the older sound and the newer sound (msnbc). Read more about the sound here.

Influences

Critical reception

Interviewer: Z has been out for about 18 months now. What's the strangest take on it you've heard so far?
Patrick Hallahan: Somebody emailed me and said Z was the bible of the universe. That's pretty fucking weird [laughs]
Interviewer: How does it feel to be an apostle?
Patrick Hallahan: I had no idea I was an apostle, so it might take some getting used to before I can answer that

Digital Rights Managment
As stated in a Spin Magazine interview Sony BMG, which distributed Z, went against the band's wishes and encoded the CD with copy-protection spyware that made consumers who put the CD into their computers vulnerable to hackers. According to the same interview the band choose to finance a disc-replacement program out of their own pockets.

"Just another example of major-label stupidity, they shot themselves in the foot, they shot us in the foot."

- Jim James
(Spin interview, May 2008)

The band's manager, Mike Martinovich, expressed their dissatisfaction with the technology and it was abandoned on subsequent releases. The band themselves provided information on their website about how to bypass the software, and also offered to burn individual copies of the album for fans, free of copy-protection software.

More coming soonish...

It Still Moves

Cover of It Still Moves

On the 9th of September My Morning Jacket released their third studio album, this time on ATO records. The album was named It Still Moves and contains 12 tracks.

1. Mahgeetah – 5:56
2. Dancefloors – 5:38
3. Golden – 4:39
4. Master Plan – 5:05
5. One Big Holiday – 5:21
6. I Will Sing You Songs – 9:18
7. Easy Morning Rebel – 5:09
8. Run Thru – 5:45
9. Rollin' Back – 7:50
10. Just One Thing – 3:13
11. Steam Engine – 7:26
12. One in the Same – 6:23

The album features Jim James, Johnny Quaid, Two Tone Tommy, Danny Cash and  Patrick Hallahan. All songs are written and produced by Jim James.

In an interview (Nude as the News interview, September 2003) with Jim James, he said that the band was excited that the record was finally done and that since they hadn't fit on At Dawn the band had been kicking around some songs on the record for quite a while, namely One Big Holiday, Run Thru, Just One Thing and I Will Sing You Songs.

Recording

"This is the first record where we really feel we're a solid band. We've finally all come together to the point where we're all friends and we all know each other. We've gone through a couple drummers that didn't really work out, that threw the rhythm off. With the last two albums we'd build 'em piece by piece, lay down some initial tracks and then come back to work on them. We all had jobs and didn't have any time. We didn't feel we were the band we could be."

- Jim James
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

"I’ve been forced into retirement from the video store* due to a grueling tour schedule. The band takes a very momentary break from the road to document a collection of sprawling songs, most of which have grown from years of being played live ."

- Tom Blankenship
(am New York interview, October 2010)
* During the recording of the previous two records Blankenship worked as a video-store clerk (am New York) 

In a 2003 interview with Billboard Jim James explains how playing the songs live over an extended period before recording them helped the songs develop.

"That's one of the coolest things about being able to play so much before we made the record. When you initially write a song, it's one way. After you've played it live for a year, it totally turns into a different beast. It gets stronger and more powerful."

- Jim James
(Billboard interview, September 2003)

Album details

We like to think of it as psychedelic honey [laughter]. All over his face… we literally were up there for a day with the bear. We put costumes on him, we put tinsel on his head, tinsel on his feet, hats on him, gloves on his paws."

- Jim James, talking about the bear of the cover of It Still Moves
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

"Something called to me and I got this image in my head of the record cover. There's a barn out on the farm where we record and it's got this ceiling structure (visible on the cover) that blew my mind the first time I saw it. It reminded me of the inside of the belly of a whale. I don't know why but I had this vision of a bear in front of this ceiling. So, we rented this big 9-foot bear and moved him around and took pictures of him. There's something about his face. You put it down into black and white it's just an awesome image to me."

- Jim James, talking about the bear of the cover of It Still Moves
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

"I was looking up in the loft when we practised and imagined a bear in it"

- Jim James, talking about the cover photography
(The Age interview, March 2004)

Jim James: It was out at our old studio, which was on my cousin’s grandparents’ farm, in Shelbyville, Kentucky. We rented this big taxidermic grizzly bear, and it’s so funny when I think back on it, because you could just, like, Photoshop that kind of shit in. But we didn’t.
Sam Erickson: If we had tried to do it digitally, it just wouldn’t have been as cool.
Jim James: Yeah, I agree. I’m so glad we didn’t. But it’s hilarious to look back, in retrospect, and think about seven grown men hefting a stuffed grizzly bear up through this hole in the side of a barn.

(Vanity Fair interview, May 2009)

Sound

"As of late I'm not quite of liberty to say anything. Top secret. It will be rockin'. And it will be mysterious. And it will be quiet. And it will feature instruments and people."

- Jim James
(Pitchfork interview, August 2002)

 As stated in a 2004 interview with JamBase the band han help with the sound of horns on the record.

"We went down and did that with Willie Mitchell, who did stuff with Al Green and Anne Peebles. We flew down to Memphis and did it with them because we wanted it to sound as authentic and old as possible."

- Jim James
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

Influences


Critical reception
The song Run Thru is included in "Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs"

My Morning Jacket/Songs: Ohia Split EP

Cover My Morning Jacket/Songs: Ohia Split EP

On March 19th, 2002 the My Morning Jacket/Songs: Ohia Split EP was released. The EP is the third release in record label Jade Tree's split series. It contains four songs by My Morning Jacket and one by Songs: Ohia

1. "O is the One That is Real" - 3:39
2. "How Do You Know" - 4:48
3. "Come Closer" - 4:59
4. "The Year in Review" - 2:34
5. "Translation" - 10:08

Track 1-4 written by Jim James, track 5 by Jason Molina.

Band quotes

"Jade Tree approached us, and since they're such a great label, and Jason [Molina] is such an excellent songwriter we thought it would really be a neat way to reach a crowd we normally wouldn't reach."

- Jim James
(Pitchfork interview, August 2002)

Interviewer: Why does the sped-up track on that split "The Year in Review" exist?
James: To make people laugh. To make people think. Maybe every release doesn't always have to be cut-and-dry. Maybe some things can be funny or stupid or not make sense at all. That topic kind of makes me bummed because from some of the reviews I read I could tell people clearly don't understand what we're trying to do. Regarding "Cobra", they say things like "twenty-four minutes is too long," or, regarding "The Year in Review", "Why was there a sped-up version of all the songs?" Or back to "Cobra", "Why is there weird-sounding eighties rhythms and no reverb"? We just want to try everything there is to try and we think EPs are the best place to try weird things out. Sure, not all of them work, but I always try to not let experimentation get in the way of still giving people their money's worth when they buy something. I think on both the new EPs, there is a lot of really good music on there, even though some of it may be really fucked up.

- Jim James
(Pitchfork interview, August 2002)

At Dawn

Cover of At Dawn

In April 2001 My Morning Jacket released second studio album on Darla Records. The album was named At Dawn and contains 15 tracks.

1. At Dawn – 3:49
2. Lowdown – 3:53
3. The Way That He Sings – 5:35
4. Death Is the Easy Way – 5:28
5. Hopefully – 5:55
6. Bermuda Highway – 3:19
7. Honest Man – 7:46
8. Xmas Curtain – 4:49
9. Just Because I Do – 2:55
10. If It Smashes Down – 5:28
11. I Needed It Most – 6:36
12. Phone Went West – 7:05
13. Strangulation! – 8:08
14. Untitled – 3:08

 The album features Jim James, Johnny Quaid, J. Glenn, Two Tone Tommy and Danny Cash. All songs are written by Jim James.


The first 2500 CD releases and the first 1000 vinyl 2LP came with a bonus CD containing 11 demo songs.

1. "Way That He Sings"
2. "Hopefully"
3. "Just Because I Do"
4. "Bermuda Highway"
5. "Lowdown"
6. "Honest Man"
7. "At Dawn"
8. "I Needed It Most"
9. "Lead Me Father"
10. "Phone Went West"
11. "Chills"

Recording
The album was recorded and mixed above at Above The Cadillac Studios, Shelbyville, KY except Chills, and If It Smashes Down which, according to the CD booklet was "recorded in waxwork museum in my basement" and Hidden Song #1 which was recorded by Chris Koltay at Ultrasuede.

"The band records its next album over a three-day weekend in the summer of 2000. The record remains … the best of what’s possible with a one-inch tape machine, pieced-together equipment and late nights spent making each other howl with laughter as much as creating music."

 - Tom Blankenship
(am New York interview, October 2010)

"We locked ourselves in for many days with all the necessary elements (lights, candles, Madonna’s Immaculate Collection, Dreamcast and cookies) and we just started cooking."

 - Jim James
(Philadelphia Citypaper interview, June 2001)

Sound/themes

"I love big, huge open sounds, such as vocals cut far away from the mic in a big room (i.e. Exile on Main Street ), and also huge drum sounds (i.e. Led Zeppelin). I just love atmosphere. I love hearing the rooms where the songs were recorded, chairs creaking, crickets and the like. (...) It feels like love and rhymes with childbirth. I think Darla’s music is all based loosely around the same beautiful feelings of pleasure and color. There is a black vibe that runs through it all, but it is also so very colorful."

- Jim James
(Philadelphia Citypaper interview, June 2001)

Influences


Critical reception

Other artists comments

Dave Grohl
In the August issue of Spin Magazine Dave Grohl mentions My Morning Jacket when asked about what inspires him. "It's when you hear an album that inspires you to write and play yourself. It's just all about the shameless fucking naked passion. Like the (...) Or the first time I heard My Morning Jacket's At Dawn - it still makes me cry."

Circuital - Louisville

On July 13th 2010, at a press conference, My Morning Jacket confirmed that they were in fact working on a new album, with a short but sweet statement, "We're working on it". Later the same month, on July 25 The Courier-Journal caught up with James and asked him what was going on with the new album.

Question: What's going on with the new My Morning Jacket record?

Jim James: We're trying to do it all live. Even the vocals. You know, the traditional Motown style of just literally playing the song over and over and over again until you get a take when everybody felt the spirit. The first two records for us were building blocks, where you lay down the drums, lay down the bass, build a wall of vocals over it. Starting with “It Still Moves,” we've always tried to build the core tracks live and then overdub vocals.

When you make a record, you want to make something that's going to be satisfying every time you listen to it — so there's a certain amount of perfectionism. We're trying to go for a certain amount of (perfectionism), but at the same time, you get a take that has the spirit in it, that still has a couple of mistakes, that's better.

In a 2011 LexGo interview James explains how the band had a heated session in the summer.

"It was very sweet. We had one session in the summer. It was so hot. But the heat really brought us together. I feel like you can hear the heat in the air in those songs. We just wanted it to be natural, where we were getting our main performances in one take. It just turned out that this beautiful old church gym where we set up to try some stuff out worked perfectly. And being in Kentucky, close to family and friends, gave us that full-circle feeling."

- Jim James
(LexGo interview, April 2011)

In the same interview Patrick Hallahan explains how the band previously had worked out of their comfort zones, but that they chose a different direction this time around. "

For our last couple of albums, we intentionally put ourselves in situations that weren't in our comfort zones. We did that just to see what it would yield, because you don't want to get caught in a rut. But then we very much wanted to come back to Louisville this time. Everything started out as a demo session. We didn't even know at first that we would be making an album. It ended up working out very organically."

- Patrick Hallahan(LexGo interview, April 2011)

In an Rolling Stone interview published on August 5th 2010 Jim James stated that the band had five songs done and that they'd worked a couple weeks at that point, and would continue for another month (Rolling Stone). He also said that the album would probably be out mid-2011, possibly in May. Furthermore James mentioned that the band would be recording the upcoming album in Louisville.

"We're recording it in a church in Louisville. We've never made a record in Louisville before."

- Jim James
(Rolling Stone interview, August 2010)

In an interview with The Republican, published on August 19th 2010, Carl Broemel said that the band was about halfway finished with the new record.

"We've been working in Louisville. We've been working at a church that has a bunch of different rooms in it, we've been setting up and recording. We're just taking it real slow and real relaxed. It has been really fun so far; I don't want to jinx it, but I'm super stoked so far."

- Carl Broemel
(The Republican interview, August 2010)

In a 2010 New York Post interview, published on October 10th James again stated that the then untitled LP should be completed by spring 2011. On March 28th 2011 it was confirmed that the album would be released on May 31st 2011.

Recording process
Broemel also confirmed that the recording process for the record was different from previous records. More specifically in the way that the process was more spontaneous, with the band taking rough demos into the studio and recording in the same room together.

"It's primarily a live album."

- Carl Broemel
(The Republican interview, August 2010)

In an interview with Democrat and Chronicle published on August 26th Patrick Hallahan also commented on the new recording being different from previous albums.

"[With]More emphasis on capturing a performance, versus building a song in terms of overdubbing. We've done five songs; everything is live. If somebody screws up, we roll the tape back, start it over again. All five of us were walking away from the first recording session all smiles and jubilation. If it's good enough for Motown and good enough for Stax, it's good enough for us, for damn sure."

- Patrick Hallahan
(Democrat and Chronicle, August 2010)


Recording
Initially there was some confusion over where the band was actually recording, as different interview claimed that they were recording in either a church or a gymnasium. Eventually it was clarified that the band had been recording in a gymnasium that is part of a church (Stereogum).

“We made the record in a gymnasium back home in Louisville,” says James, “It’s part of a church that was built in the 1800s, so it’s this really old, wooden building with 50 foot ceilings."

- Jim James
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)

The band set up a control room on the stage and then played out on the floor, on a basketball court.

"We recorded everything to tape right there in the gymnasium. The record really feels more circular in nature, mostly because we played just standing in a circle there on the floor. There is this cool thing that happens when you are all playing live in one room and everyone’s sound is bleeding together in all of the mics. It’s like all these points being connected in time, unlike most recording where everything is isolated and then blended together later in a machine. That’s kind of where the title of the record came from — it was like we were all connected in this one continuous circuit. There was a little bit of overdubbing that happened on a couple of the songs, but for the most part things were recorded live in one or two takes … and that’s what you hear on the record."

- Jim James
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)
In the 2010 Stereogum interview James also explains how the band had what he calls Boy Scout kinds of challenges while making the record.

"The fun part this time was that we had all of these Boy Scout kinds of challenges while making the record. If something fucked up, we’d just have to figure out how to fix it with bubble gum and duct tape. Like, we literally had to pitch a tent around the drum kit at one point…which, oddly, none of us knew how to do."

- Jim James
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)
In the same Stereogum interview Patrick Hallahan reflects on how recording live changes the recording experience.

"The live recording aspect really affects the way you play. It really changes the performances and makes everyone better. Everyone has to play perfectly together in order to make that take. You never want to be the one who screws it up."

- Patrick Hallahan
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)

"It was literally like kids building forts. We be moving around big piles of sound baffling and stacking them up around us to get different sounds. It was ridiculous … but also really fun. Going in, we honestly had no idea if it would work or not."

- Carl Broemel
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)

"Going back to a regular studio to mix things was such a buzz kill after recording in that gym. It was going back to a doctor’s office or something."

- Bo Koster
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)


Recording in Louisville

“It’s been wild. We’ve never done one in the ‘Ville before. It’s been great, and it’s given us a different take on the town as well. We’re in a classic gymnasium, recording all live and bonding in the heat and in the absence of technology. No computers, no AC. Just us and God. God and us, I should say.”

- Jim James
(NJ.com interview, August 2010)

"It always feels good to be home, and we had actually never recorded in Louisville proper before. We made our first three records in Shelbyville, which is maybe half an hour away. But I've always written 90% of the songs in Louisville. So it was pretty exciting and cool to be at home and actually make the record here."

- Jim James

 (Toronto Sun, May 2011) 

"I try to let the universe dictate what is supposed to happen with our music. I feel there are always certain energies pulling you in a certain direction and I try to listen to that. For this record, we decided to come back to rehearse and we found this beautiful old church space where we ended up making the record. At first we were just going to go rehearse in it, but we loved it so much that it just made sense to stay and make the whole record in there.And at that point, it became about us embracing home and enjoying that."

- Jim James

 (Toronto Sun, May 2011) 

The Tennessee Fire

Cover of The Tennessee Fire

In May 1999 My Morning Jacket's released their debut album on Darla Records. The album was named The Tennessee Fire and contains 16 tracks.

1. Heartbreakin Man
   
2. They Ran
   
3. The Bear
   
4. Nashville to Kentucky – 2:58
5. Old Sept. Blues – 2:28
6. If All Else Fails – 3:58
7. "It's About Twilight Now" – 4:06
8. Evelyn Is Not Real
   
9. "War Begun" – 3:06
10. "Picture of You" – 3:16
11. "I Will Be There When You Die" – 4:42
12. "The Dark" – 3:22
13. "By My Car" – 4:04
14. "Butch Cassidy" – 3:55
15. "I Think I'm Going to Hell" – 5:06
16. "[Untitled]" – 2:42

The album features Jim James (vocals, guitar), Two Tone Tommy (bass), Johnny Quaid (guitar) and J Glenn (drums). All songs on the record are written by Jim James.

The first pressings (1000 copies) of the 2LP-version included a bonus 7″ single with 4 tracks: Evelyn Is Not Real (flood remix), R.I.P.V.G., Tonight I Want To Celebrate With You, Josta Dreams And Bitter Hands.

Recording
 Pre-recording

"I’m a 20-year-old video-store clerk playing in a band. A bandmate gives me a cassette for another project he’s working on. ... I listen to the tape, amazed that this hilarious dude Jim has written these beautiful songs."

 - Tom Blankenship
(am New York interview, October 2010)

Sound/themes

I first got the demo tape given to me by the drummer Jeremy maybe 6 or 8 months before I joined the band. Most of the album had already been completed. Number one: I was blown away by this guy Jim, who was the same age as me but could write these haunting yet kinda poppy sounding songs. What I loved about the album was that it had all these familiar elements that I'd never heard put together before. I couldn't put my finger on what the sound was or how to describe.

- Tom Blankenship
(JamBase interview, 2010)

Influences

 Critical reception
Not long after the release of the album a journalist in the Netherlands found out about the record and wrote a long, gushing story about the band and from there it snowballed. In a 2003 interview with PopMatters Johnny Quaid explains how the band ended up being so popular in the Netherlands.

"The writer had a friend who worked in a record shop who gave him a copy of Tennessee Fire and said 'You need to listen to this,' Then he went on to write this article about how the album made him feel like a kid, and how amazing it was. The next thing we knew, we're sitting in Kentucky working our day jobs, and we get a phone call from someone who wants to fly us to the Netherlands. The first thing we did was get a map to figure out where it was."

- Johnny Quaid
(PopMatters interview, October 2003)

The name of the album

Before I joined the band, I remember pulling up to the studio in Shelbyville. I was in a band called Winter Death Club at the time, and we'd have practice after My Morning Jacket practice. At the time MMJ was just a 3-piece of two guitars, drums and vocals. They even played a few shows with that lineup, which is how [The Tennessee Fire] was mainly recorded. I remember pulling up and hearing that Jimmy had got a record contract with Darla but he didn't know what to name the band. I think he maybe wanted to call the band The Tennessee Fire at one time. As far as I know, that's how it came about, that and the picture inside the album of the Tennessee fireworks store where the 'works' is cut off.

- Tom Blankenship
(JamBase interview, 2010)

Around the time of the album
How Two Tone Tommy came to be

“I really should have a funny story by now. J. Glenn, the drummer on the first two records, used to leave funny messages on my answering machine all the time and one of them was three minutes long with him giving me all these different monikers — one of them was Two Tone Tommy, which he repeated over and over again. So when Tennessee Fire was being put together I was asked, ‘Do you want to use your real name?’ And I was like, No, not really, so I picked Two Tone Tommy. After a show, if I have my hair up in a ponytail no one knows who I am. Even if they do recognize me, it’s always, ‘Tommy?’ or ‘Two Tone?’ I don’t even respond to it because I’m just not used to it in my everyday life”

- Tom "Two Tone Tommy" Blankenship
(PopMatters interview, October 2005)