Spirituality

Jim James at Terminal 5, NYC, 2010, photo by Matt Karp

"I believe there is a force that controls and guides everything I do. I totally believe in it and pray to it though I don't know what it is. I am grateful for what it has given me. Every night I tell it this prayer which I learned as a child."

- Jim James
(Pitchfork interview, August 2002)

"I consider myself really spiritual. I feel the presence of God, or whatever that is, all of the time, whether it’s live or music. I’ve never been able to define it or call it Christianity or Islam. I can’t put a label on it."

- Jim James
(Time Out Chicago, August 2009)

The Sound Strike

“We just want to help make a statement and let people know how important this issue is, and that they need to get involved. We have no intention of hurting our fans in Arizona. We are so grateful to them, and we will find a constructive way to play there again soon — perhaps at a benefit for the cause.”

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



On June 28th sources reported that My Morning Jacket had joined the Sound Strike. The Sound Strike came to be after the state of Arizona passed bill SB 1070.

The strike started out as a group of musicians taking a stand for civil and human rights in a collective decision to boycott Arizona and to urge other artists to boycott Arizona as well, due to the passage of the law. Later the strike grew to contain people from other areas of society as well.

Politics

"We've always made it a point not to be a political band. I don't write political lyrics, I don't get up on stage and make speeches because I think music should be a beautiful escape for anybody, regardless of their politics. [but] If I can't afford health insurance and rent, I'm gonna be too busy thinking about that to meander on my couch all day, playing guitar and writing songs, I try to make my life and my music into as much of a fantasy as possible, but if I don't try and help the real world, I'm not gonna have a fantasy world to come back to."

- Jim James
(Exclaim! interview, October 2004)

My Morning Jacket has stated several times that they're not, like Patrick Hallahan said in a 2008 interview, a political band, as a rule. However they do occasionally get involved in certain political issues, such as health care or immigration laws and the band has promoted local events or organizations that they find important numerous times.

Health Care (year)

Arizona SB 1070 (2010)

“We’re not usually a political band, as a rule – we kind of like to be the vacation away from most people’s troubles.”

—	Patrick Hallahan November 2008

"I’ve never wanted to be a real preachy kind of person or ram things down people’s throats, because I think people are pretty smart. At the same time, if we’re lucky enough to make a living from our music and have people listen, I’ll do everything I can to use music to help inform people about important events or organizations in their community that they can help"

Jim James
(October 2009)