The Music


Jim James 2007, photo by Julio Enriquez

"When pressed to explain my fanaticism for My Morning Jacket, or to argue the band's relevance, I pause: Like many a modern Southerner, I teem with fairly illogical aversions and often indefensible convictions. Just as my neighbor can't fathom anyone challenging his why aren't you saved? bumper sticker, I think: Who are these skeptics kidding? Is it not plainly obvious that My Morning Jacket is the greatest band in the world?"

- William Bowers, A Descent Into Fandom
(December, 2008)

Songs
Look up any and all (most) songs by the band, lyrics provided along with miscellaneous info including song length and/or comments from the band.

Songwriting
Read about the songwriting process.

The Live Music
The band comment on their live show, how they experience the exchange with the audience and touring in general, also includes links to festivals, shows and setlists.

Discography + DVDs
View the My Morning Jacket discography and check out specific albums, EPs or compilations.

The Sound
The band comment on the music and the sound, also includes links to reverb, influences and genre.

The Gear
Info and comments on the equipment used when recording and performing live, also includes links to omnichord.

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)

The Songs

You can also view the songs according to album in the Discography section, original songs below, cover songs can be found here.

Original songs

A
Aluminum Park
Anytime
At Dawn

B
Bermuda Highway
Breathin'
Butch Cassidy
By My Car

C
Can You See the Hard Helmet on My Head?
Chills
Circuital
Cobra
Come Closer

D
Dancefloors
Death Is the Easy Way
Dondante

E
Easy Morning Rebel
El Caporal
Evelyn Is Not Real
Evil Urges

F
First Light
Friends Again

G
Gideon
Golden
Good Intentions

H
Heartbreakin Man
Highly Suspicious
Holdin On To Black Metal
Holy
Honest Man
Hopefully
How Could I Know
How Do You Know?

I
I Can't Wait
I Just Wanted to Be Your Friend
I Needed It Most
I Think I'm Going to Hell
I Will Be There When You Die
I Will Sing You Songs
I Won't Cry
I'm Amazed
If All Else Fails
If It Smashes Down
Into the Woods
It Beats 4 U
It's About Twilight Now

J
Just Because I Do
Just One Thing

K
Knot Comes Loose

L
Lay Low
Librarian
Look At You
Lowdown

M
Mahgeetah
Master Plan
Movin Away

N
Nashville to Kentucky

O
O Is the One That Is Real
Off the Record
Old September Blues
One Big Holiday
One in the Same
Outta My System

P
Phone Went West
Picture of You

R
R.I.P.V.G
Remnants
Rollin Back
Run Thru

S
Same in Any Language
Sec Walkin
Slow Slow Tune
Smokin' from Shootin'
Sooner
Steam Engine
Strangulation
Sweetheart

T
Thank You Too!
The Bear
The Dark
The Day Is Coming
The Way That He Sings
They Ran
Tonight I Wanna Celebrate with You
Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 1
Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2
Two Halves

V
Victory Dance

W
War Begun
Weeks Go By Like Days
What a Wonderful Man
Where to Begin
Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
Wordless Chorus

X
Xmas Curtain

Y
You Wanna Freak Out

Songwriting

My Morning Jacket at Langerado, 2007, photo by Tyler Machado

"Music is limitless, with music, you create something out of nothing, that no one has ever done before. By recording it, you capture it, but that song is never the same again - it always changes."

- Jim James
(The Independent interview, February 2004)

Pre-recording

"That is something I try to do. That's what I love about all my favorite music, that it lets me be creative and apply it to my own life. I don't want to hear specifically about some guy's specific situation. Lots of (my) lyrics are stream-of-conscious so I don't even understand what they mean until a couple months later when I make it mean something to me. Lots of it just pops out when I'm in a good place. When I get in the zone it just kinda falls out."

- Jim James, about avoiding specificity and leaving space for the listener to find a place in the songs
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

"Out of the blue we'll get like a magical CD in the mail and it will have something scribbled on it, like the word 'please' or something on it, so I know it's from Jim. And he'll just send us a bunch of ideas."

 - Carl Broemel
(CNN video interview, July 2011)

"It’s a daunting thing, because I’m pretty childlike in the way that I describe things to people. I’m not trained in music and I don’t read music. I just will send these emails to people with times, like, ‘From zero second to 30 seconds, I want this to happen, and from 30 seconds to 45 seconds, I want there to be silence.’"

- Jim James
(Under The Radar interview, June 2008)


Recording

"I bring in the skeletal structures and the boys flesh him out. His name is Orange Roughy and we like to tenderize him until he takes on different shapes and sounds just right."

- Jim James
(Pitchfork interview, August 2002)

"I bring in the song and the melody and show it to them and give them a basic idea of what I want to happen. Then everybody starts picking it up and running with it, turning it around, flipping it over, slapping stuff on. I watch what they do and it ends up turning out way better than I could have by myself."

- Jim James
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

"We've been getting more upbeat in our live shows. After being locked up in the van all day we're ready to have a good time and rock as hard as we can. I think we definitely wanted this record to be a more upbeat, rockin' experience. When you're playing with a band people can add things that really distract from the song, really take away from the song if they're putting in things that don't need to be there. Luckily, with each time we've done it they've ended up contributing to make it far better than it might have been on its own."

- Jim James
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

"The record makes itself. It all depends on how you feel. You never really know until you're into the album."

- Jim James
(The Age interview, March 2004)

"I think most of the time they [the songs] stay pretty close structure-wise to what they were on the demo and sometimes they’re radically different. Especially on It Still Moves, that whole middle part on Run Thru with the weird distorted synth and the drum and bass thing was kind of a happy accident that happened while we were rehearsing. And that stuff still happens. "

   - Tom Blankenship
(College Tower interview, June 2005) 

"It’s a process. Jim comes in with the skeletal work, and we put muscle and skin on it and make it a human. The songs are their own beings. We don’t make them. They’re out there, and they channel through us."

- Patrick Hallahan
(Popmatters interview, October 2005)

"We never do anything consciously, as far as writing. We don't say that we're going to write a really poppy song, or one with alt-country twang. We pride ourselves on not thinking about things creatively and just letting them happen."

- Tom Blankenship
(Rolling Stone interview, October 2005)

"This band started with Jim as a singer/songwriter and he added on people – so he kind of sits around and writes demos when we're off the road. He then hands them over to us and we knock them around, and add our two cents, or five cents, or however much our additions are."

- Patrick Hallahan
(The Star interview, June 2008)

"The process doesn’t change too much. Jim makes demos at home and hands us like two dozen songs or something. And we all live with them for a while. Then we get together and everybody just plays whatever comes into their minds. We just kind of hammer them out from there."

- Tom Blankenship
(The Aquarian Weekly interview, June 2008)

"I would listen to the songs in the morning here at the house and I guess it was last spring I had to do a lot of mowing. I had to mow the yard like every five days or something and then I had to rake between mowing because I had this ancient mower. So anyway, I spent a lot of time outside working and I would still have the songs in my head and I could hear little bass parts come up that way. So a lot of my stuff came when I was just working in the yard."

- Tom Blankenship
(The Aquarian Weekly interview, June 2008)

"In the studio. I always have a vision of what I think I want, but the albums evolve as the guys put their input in, and the spirits have their way. It becomes whatever it wants to become."

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

Once we all get together we have a general idea of what we're gonna do. But it's always interesting, you never know, like there's definitely been a few songs that now in my mind is classic us songs, that the first time I heard them I was like 'what is that? Is that Jim? What is that?'.

 - Carl Broemel
(CNN video interview, July 2011)

The Live Music
My Morning Jacket at the Riverside Theatre 2008, photo by eytonz

"The greatest thing about live music is that it’s something you can’t replicate. It’s something very communal and I think society is lacking that. People are so alienated and trapped in their little cubicles with their computers and texting devices. When you go to a big concert and you’re in a room with a bunch of other humans, I think that’s really healthy"

- Jim James
(Billboard interview, May 2008)

Live show and touring
The band comment on their live show, how they experience the exchange with the audience and touring in general.

Festivals
Through the years My Morning Jacket has attended quite a few festivals, view the most recent ones, sort through them by festival or click any specific in the list.

Shows
View the most recent shows or click any specific in the list.

Setlists
Coming soon

The Sound

My Morning Jacket at The Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY, December 2012

“I just realized a long time ago: anything that you do, somebody’s gonna like it and somebody’s gonna hate it. And it doesn’t matter who you are. If you’re Bob Dylan or you’re just starting out, somebody’s gonna like it and somebody’s gonna hate it. So knowing that kind of liberates you to just say, “Fuck it. I’m just gonna do this, it’s gonna be fun, and hopefully more people will like it than hate it.”

- Jim James
(Vanity Fair interview, May 2009)

2010

"The last few albums, we've really tried to carve out space by taking out sounds that don't need to be there all the time," Hallahan says. "So when those sounds do come in, they sound a lot bigger. It's an ongoing study in trying to master the creation of space between instruments. It comes from miking strategies we use. If we're trying to create a big spacious sound, we'll mike more of the room. If it's tighter or more microscopic, a tighter miking style is used for that."

- Patrick Hallahan
(News Observer interview, April 2010)

2009

“I’ve always wanted the music — the rhythms, the strings, the guitar solos, everything — to be just as important as the words. I’ve never wanted one thing to be the most important ingredient. I like to think of the band as something that’s not really about any one person or any one thing. It’s just this weird cloud that is all-encompassing in terms of what we all do to it.”

- Jim James
March 2009

2008

 "I think we're getting that comment a lot, because we're definitely practising a less-is-more mantra, and I think that that creates more space for individual instruments to shine, whereas having everybody play at once, that doesn't sound clean at all.... We're really trying to create musical space between tracks as opposed to cramming it with sound all the time."

 - Patrick Hallahan, when asked if the band wanted to make the sound more refined and cleaner
(The Star interview, June 2008)

2004

"We've got a good sound now, but it's always going to keep changing. And I want it to keep changing. I love making music; I love how it feels to sit there with a guitar. I'm lucky enough to be able to do this now and I'm going to try to do it for as long as I can. But in this weird life, you just never know what's going to happen and that's what makes life just so very exciting."

- Jim James
(The Independent interview, February 2004)

2001

"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)

“Obviously, the reverb— especially on the vocals and drums. I think those sounds are kind of a signature. You always know it’s My Morning Jacket when you hear the drums start. Songwriting-wise we’ll always be all over the map but production wise there’s always little hints of what came before, a My Morning Jacket vein that runs through everything.”

- Tom Blankenship

The gear

Jim James

"I would have to say that it is a tie between my Takamine G332 acoustic guitar and my Gibson Flying V. My parents gave me the Takamine for Christmas when I was around 12, and I've written so much stuff on it. It is really magic for me, it is the sound of love and familiarity. The Flying V rocks like no other guitar I've ever held. Sometimes it rocks so hard, I can't even bear to play it and I want to lay down and sleep. Sometimes, if I haven't played loud or live in awhile, and I strap on the V, I feel like I have a machine gun or a sledgehammer in my hand and nothing can stand in my way."

 - Jim James
(Guitar Center, March 2007)

"I’m deep in the studio in Bangladesh, in the throes of working on my latest raga. I need something new, some new sort of drone or sustain, and someone hands me the freeze. I capture the sound of a kitten mewing outside of the studio and sustain it indefinitely with the freeze pedal-perfection! I can now raga for hours, or until the end of time- as my freeze pedal will allow me to fuck with the space-time continuum any way I choose. Thanks EH!"

 - Jim James, talking about the Electro-Harmonix Freeze Sound Retainer
(Electro-Harmonix, May 2011)


Tom Blankenship

Patrick Hallahan

Carl Broemel

 My black 1988 Les Paul Standard is definitely the most special guitar in my collection. I've been playing it for 14 years, and have replaced the tuners, frets, pickups and pots, and eventually added a Bigsby (so I could pretend to be in Crazy Horse). I guess I've just played it so much, and used it to record so often, it's become the main thing that makes me sound like me. I once watched in shock as it flew out of my friend Mike's pickup truck and landed neck first on Indiana Highway 37. Hard. But somehow, Ol' Blacky lives to tell the tale.

 - Carl Broemel
(Guitar Center, March 2007)



Omnichord

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

Live show and touring

"We've been getting more upbeat in our live shows. After being locked up in the van all day we're ready to have a good time and rock as hard as we can. I think we definitely wanted this record to be a more upbeat, rockin' experience."

- Jim James
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

The live show

"It’s funny, when I see “Okonokos” [live 2006 DVD] or something like that. When I actually see clips of us playing, it’s like 'Oh wow these guys are pretty good.' It’s so strange. Well I guess it’s not that strange. When you’re in the middle of it and you’re doing it you just have no clue. But even when I saw Patrick and Carl play with Bobby Bare Jr. in Austin a couple of years ago I was like “Holy shit,” watching them play. I understood. Not being a part of what they were doing and watching them play as individuals. There was a weird energy and a magical thing that happened. It’s hard to describe. I don’t know, it’s weird. Years ago when we were touring on At Dawn live shows were so different. It was like we wanted to be, I don’t want to say we wanted to be a metal band, but that’s what it felt like when we got on stage. Like we were Metallica in the ‘80s or something. (laughs). It wasn’t even something we talked about. It was just like that was what we did. I guess it was what we had grown up listening to and watching all the time. Hardcore and metal and stuff like that. I guess that really seeped its way into the live show, whereas the recording was a totally different world. Maybe that’s where it comes from. Just that music we were listening to growing up."

- Tom Blankenship
(The Aquarian Weekly, June 2008)

"It's amazing, I’ve been in this band for a while now. It's still amazing. It's everything anybody would it imagine it to be. For me, growing up outside of Louisville- the biggest city in Kentucky which isn’t even that big, you always have these dreams of being on stage or just playing music in general. I still have that feeling when I’m on stage that I’m in my bedroom and I’m 13 or 14 years old and I’m listening to a Zeppelin record or I’m 16 years old and I’m listening to some Louisville hard core. Those air guitar moments, that’s really what its all about you know? That feeling of being a kid or adolescent. You have fun on stage in that way. "

  - Tom Blankenship
(College Tower interview, June 2005)

The audience

"We try not to care about group divisions as far as audiences and stuff like that because that's just silly," he says. "We welcome anyone at our shows. The great thing about music is that it can bring people of all walks together. We tour a lot and play festival dates when we can. That's usually very fun because it allows you to play to a larger crowd than you might be used to and sometimes you get to watch your heroes perform from the side of the stage. I mean, I've seen Bob Dylan, Neil Young and the Flaming Lips all within pissing distance!"

- Jim James
(Jonk Music, June 25 2005)

"I think we just like to have fun and try to convey that to the audience as well, without losing all the meaning."

- Jim James
(Pitchfork interview, August 2002)

Dangerous moves

"I've fallen into the drum kit a few times, just not paying attention. I've definitely hurt myself. It kind of scares me to see clips of myself playing."

- Tom Blankenship
(Rolling Stone interview, October 2005)

Records vs. live performances

"We've always wanted it to be two different experiences. The record would be this timeless thing that we hope will live on far after we are gone. The live performances are just us having fun and us living out our thirteen-year-old fantasy of air-guitaring on our beds."

- Tom Blankenship
(Rolling Stone interview, October 2005)

Touring

"They treat us nice over there, and we always like to crank it up a couple of notches. We like to blow the doors off a bit when we play live."

Jim James, talking about touring Europe (Netherlands)
(CMJ New Music Monthly interview, June 2002)

What is the atmosphere like when you are on tour? It sounds like it can be pretty exhausting and hectic.

Yeah, it definitely can be. We’re all in pretty good spirits most of the time. It’s definitely exhausting. It’s all how you pace it, how well you take care of yourself. Try not to drink every night, try to get some sleep. Same kind of stuff. It’s no difeerent than working a normal job in a lot of ways. Trying to take care of yourself and making sure that you have some time to yourself.

  - Tom Blankenship
(College Tower interview, June 2005)

Circuital

Cover of Circuital

Available for purchase here

On May 31st 2011 My Morning Jacket released their sixth studio album. The album is titled Circuital and contains 10 tracks.

Tracklist

1. Victory Dance
   
2. Circuital
   
3. The Day Is Coming
   
4. Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
   
5. Outta My System
   
6. Holdin On To Black Metal
   
7. First Light
   
8. You Wanna Freak Out
   
9. Slow Slow Tune
   
10. Movin Away
    

The album features Jim James, Two Tone Tommy, Patrick Hallahan, Carl Broemel and Bo Koster. The songs are written by Jim James. The album was produced by Jim James and Tucker Martine. The album was made available in several different formats and constellations, more info here.

Recording
Louisville
On July 13th 2010, at a press conference, My Morning Jacket confirmed that they were in fact working on a new album. In an Rolling Stone interview published in August of the same year 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). James also mentioned that the band would be recording the upcoming album in a church in Louisville. Read more about the band's time spent recording in the church here.

Sound/themes
In a 2010 interview Jim James compared the new album to 2008 album Evil Urges, saying that Evil Urges was the hardest record the band ever made and that the new sessions sounded more upbeat. He also explained that the band was trying to do as much as possibly live. Read more about the album's sound and themes here.

Influences
In a 2010 interview with Post-Gazette Bo Koster was asked about new influences on the upcoming album, Koster answered that he wasn't sure.

"There may be -- I'm not sure! It's always hard to describe for me. I think all of our influences are there one way or another, whether it's in a subtle way or overtly."

- Bo Koster
(Post-Gazette, August 2010)

Critical reception
Coming soon

Festivals

Sometimes it feels like we’re playing to a crowd of people who’ve never seen us before, and they’re confused at first but then we get everybody in. And then sometimes it feels like we’re playing a normal show, mostly just our fans, so it just depends on the festival. I feel like in Austin, usually we play for people that at least have heard of us, but it’s kind of up to the music gods sometimes.

- Bo Koster, talking about playing Austin City Limits festival
(Austinist interview, September 2011) 

Through the years My Morning Jacket has attended quite a few festivals, view the most recent ones below this post, or sort through them by festival or click any specific in the list.

Big Day Out ------------- Bonnaroo -------------- Coachella -

-----FIB ----------------- Field Day ------------ Langerado


Lollapalooza

------ Outside Lands ---------- Pemberton --------- Summer Sonic ----

SXSW --------------- Voodoo

List by year
Coming soon...

2007
Langerado (March)

Shows

My Morning Jacket at SXSW 2008, photo by Kyle Matteson

"I didn't think there could ever be such a wonderful exchange between bands and an audience. If I could grow five more arms out of my chest, that would be the most incredible thing. I was always taking and not giving back too much. Now I feel the exchange; it's a beautiful thing."

- Patrick Hallahan
(Democrat and Chronicle, August 2010)

View the most recent shows below or click any specific in the list.

List coming soon...

The Voodoo Experience/Voodoo Fest (2010)

"The air is so thick with magic."

- Jim James, on stage at The Voodoo Experience
(Nola.com, November 2010)

Photo from the official twitter.

Voodoo Experience also commonly referred to as Voodoo and Voodoo Fest is a multi-day music and arts festival in New Orleans, Louisiana that was originally held on Halloween weekend in 1999, it has since moved between the weekend before Halloween and Halloween weekend throughout the years. The festival returned to Halloween weekend in 2009

On June 21st, 2010, it was announced that another headlining act to be added to the bill was My Morning Jacket.

On October 31st My Morning Jacket performed at the Voodoo Experience.

Photo from the official twitter

Before the show James announced that the Voodoo date would be his band’s final show for some time (Nola.com).

Gulf Restoration Network at Voodoo Fest

"The Gulf Restoration Network is committed to uniting and empowering people to protect and restore the natural resources of the Gulf Region for future generations. The Gulf of Mexico will continue to be a natural, economic, and recreational resource that is central to the culture and heritage of five states and several nations. The people of the region will be stewards of this vital but imperiled treasure, and assume the responsibility of returning the Gulf to its previous splendor."

(The Gulf Restoration Network)

The Gulf Restoration Network held a news conference the final afternoon of the festival to raise awareness about the Gulf Coast oil spill. R.E.M., a former Voodoo headliner, and My Morning Jacket are joining forces with other bands to spread the word with the slogan, "No coast, no music." (The Daily Reveille)

IFC Outside Lands interview

On the 14th of August 2010 My Morning Jacket performed at The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. On the 3rd of September 2010 IFC published an interview with the band, made during the festival.

IFC Outside Lands interview

Jim James: We've always just had a nice romantic relationship with San Fransisco, every time we come here it feels pretty special. You come into the city and it's San Fransisco, it's speaks loudly on its own, you don't even have to really do much to feel the magic. It's just lit up in a very special way.

All: We're My Morning Jacket and this is Outside Lands

Jim James: I'll kinda get an idea that'll pop out and I'll mess with a little bit, send it to the guys we'll get together and mess with it and sometimes that initial messing with will be the actual version you hear and other times it'll go through many different phases, evaluations and re-shufflings and re-contextualizings and
Patrick Hallahan: Discombobulating
Jim James: Discombobulating

Jim James: It's just all about the spirits that are there at that time, I mean you could play a festival that feels absolutely weird, you know, and there might be ten thousand people out there or you can play a tiny room that feels weird and there's only three people in it our or you can play for three people and it's the greatest show you've ever had.
Carl Broemel: It's weird if you expect it to be great, it probably won't be and if you don't expect it to be great, it could be like the greatest, you might catch an awesome show in a really random place.
Jim James: Just really depends on what the universe has in store for you.

Hangout Music Festival (2011)

Setlist from the official Tumblr

On Friday May 21st 2011 My Morning Jacket performed at the Hangout Music Festival, Gulf Shores, Alabama. The band performed on the Surf Style Stage in the 7-8:30 PM slot.

"It feels good to climb back onto the horse with ya’ll tonight!"

- Jim James
(Hangout Music Festival, May 2011)

Influences

My Morning Jacket, Cause Cast 2010

"People assume we’re a certain type of band based on how we look, but we all have pretty diverse music collections, and we’re always trying something different."

- Jim James
(Dallas News, August 2008)

Influences by album

Evil Urges

Influences by band member

Current

---Jim James-

Influences in general

Reverb

"We try to find the biggest, emptiest fish tank, really."

- Jim James, when asked how MMJ conjure their sound
(CMJ New Music Report interview, August 2003)

2001
In an 2001 interview with Philadelphia Citypaper Jim James mentions his love of reverb and how it makes him feel happy.

"I love to sing in a world I’m comfortable in. I love big open rooms and lots and lots of reverb…. Reverb makes me feel like Roy Orbison, and when I feel like Roy Orbison I feel happy, though I know I’ll never even come close to him."

- Jim James
(Philadelphia Citypaper interview, June 2001)

2003
In an 2003 interview with CMJ New Music Report Jim James is asked several questions about reverb. Among other things he talks about how lucky the band is to be able to record out on a farm in Louisville.

"I'm just a huge fan of reverb, so I like to make reverb a part of everything we do. We've got tons of different kinds of reverb - but huge old plate reverb from the '50s, we've got a silo that we use as a reverb chamber, we've got a garage that we use as a reverb chamber."

- Jim James
(CMJ New Music Report interview, August 2003)

James also comments on what draws him to reverb, saying that he finds it hard to explain, but that using reverb is kind of like almost becoming a superhero.

"To me, reverb is the difference between heaven and earth and the difference between feeling like I could sing like the Righteous Brothers or not sing at all. It's something that makes me feel amazing and makes me feel so confident in the way I sound. I don't even like to sing at home without reverb. I don't like to sit in a bedroom - I like to sit in a shower or stairwell or silo or parking garage - sit with a four-track with tons of reverb on it. It just makes me feel right."

- Jim James
(CMJ New Music Report interview, August 2003)

In a 2003 interview with Billboard James also talks about the importance of reverb.

"I'm a reverb maniac, I can't even sing at home in my closet without reverb. (...) They [venue sound engineers] tell us it's unprofessional and that it doesn't sound right. Luckily, we're now able to start bringing our own sound guy and have more control over it."

- Jim James
(Billboard interview, September 2003)

In 2003 interview Johnny Quaid revealed just how important reverb is to the band and to James personally.

"Jim actually has a chemical imbalance where he cannot survive without reverb, it’s like oxygen to him. He won’t even have a conversation with any of us unless he’s talking through a small amp. He walks around with a small amp on his belt and a mic, and talks to us all the time in reverb. It’s kind of disturbing."

- Johnny Quaid
(PopMatters interview, October 2003)


September, 2003

Interviewer: Your vocal effects are a very important part of My Morning Jacket's sound. Have you always been singing that way? What actually is being applied to your voice?
Jim James: It's reverb, echo, delay. We use tons of different kinds of reverb. I'm obsessed. We try to use a lot of variety, with different rooms, garages, silos. We've got a big plate reverb out at the farm that we use, and all kinds of digital reverb
Interviewer: Is this hard for you to reproduce live?
Jim James: Yeah. Most sound guys don't understand it all and try to fight you. [In hick voice] "You're not supposed to have that much reverb!" It's always a big bullshit battle
Interviewer: So somewhere, are there versions of these songs without the vocal effects?
Jim James: No. It's a part of it from the very beginning. I can't even write a song without reverb. I've always got to have reverb

2004

"Reverb is music to me. I don't ever play music without it. I don't sing without it, I don't like to play guitar without it. It is what makes music a joy for me personally. It's the difference between being a normal human being and some weird force that's unexplainable. If you think about it, reverb is all around you. If you have a big house with high ceilings it sounds a lot different than if you have small place with tightly packed rooms full of shit. I hate singing into a dry microphone. It sounds dead and lifeless to me."

- Jim James
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

However...

"Sound guys hate reverb. Sound guys fuckin' despise it. It was a huge battle until we finally got our own sound guy and now it's fine."

Jim James
(JamBase interview, January 2004)

"I just need a comfortable place with lots of reverb and I just zone out and let it happen, to me, reverb is dreadfully important, just as important to me as a guitar or a voice. It's definitely got its own life force."

- Jim James, talking about recording It Still Moves
(The Age interview, March 2004)

2005

 "I don’t sing without reverb. I think the sound of a dry microphone against the human voice is kinda gross. It works for some other people but I just don’t like it for my voice. I think we did a good job of messing around with it on the new record. It’s not just all big reverb. We tried different delays and different room sounds. There’s a lot of texture on the vocals on this record, but they’re not all buried in reverb, and they’re not dry either. Some sound like a robot. I’m just obsessed with making things sound weird."

- Jim James
(PopMatters interview, October 2005)

2006

"Obviously, the reverb— especially on the vocals and drums. I think those sounds are kind of a signature. You always know it’s My Morning Jacket when you hear the drums start. Songwriting-wise we’ll always be all over the map but production wise there’s always little hints of what came before, a My Morning Jacket vein that runs through everything."

-Tom Blankenship, when asked about the defining characteristics of the band’s sound
(Pitchfork interview, April 2006)


2008

“To Jim, reverb’s another instrument and another sound on the record and he plays off that texture. It’s really important he has it in his headphone mix and he hears exactly how it is going to sound on the album, whether it’s a plate or a chamber or an old ’80s AMS RMX16 non-linear program.”

- Joe Chiccarelli
(EQ Magazine interview, December 2008)

“I just have a need for space in a recording. I feel that a lot of modern recordings are lacking space and depth in the stereo field. Many recordings sound flat, with all the sounds pushed right up in your face. I hate that. I like older recordings where you can feel the space around the performers. It’s not that I’m on some retro trip—that gets old—I just want there to be some difference in distance between the instruments.”

- Jim James
(EQ Magazine interview, December 2008)

Genre

Bo Koster, at KCRW 2005

 "I feel sorry for anyone who has to conjure up a way to label this band from now on. [smile]"
- Bo Koster
(Paste Magazine interview, June 2008)

Rock 'n' roll

"Rock 'n' roll that's all I can say. It's everything, rock 'n' roll encompasses all the emotions."

- Jim James
(CMJ interview, September 2003)

"If I'm forced I say rock 'n' roll because that can be anything. It can be the Stooges, it can be Roy Orbison, it can be Outkast. There's so many things that can be rock 'n' roll and if you say that you can't be limited."

- Jim James
(JamBase interview, January 2004) 

"We've always really tried to stay away from being an alternative-rock band. We're more interested in being a weird rock 'n' roll band. Alternative rock hasn't lasted, and I think it has something to do with the production. Take Weezer: their first album is a classic fucking record with great songs and great writing, but it sounds so early '90s with that sort of heavy-distortion approach. Same with the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream."

 - Jim James
(The Georgia Straight interview, November 2005)

"We basically just say we are a rock band, but I don’t really know what that means. I mean, if I am at the dentist’s office and the dental assistant is like ‘I like Kid Rock, would I like you?,’ I’m like, ‘well you may like us.’ And if she presses, I’m like, ‘but we are a weird rock band,’ so if she comes to see us, she isn’t disappointed."

- Carl Broemel

Southern rock hillbillies?

 "The only way that is possibly true is we live below the Mason-Dixon line and we’re a rock band. That’s it. We’re influenced by so much it’s hard to say that. I’m sure that because of where we live there’s a little country feel we might throw in there once in a while. We’ve gotten further and further away from it, and the new album is a testament to that. I think it’s just an easy assumption because we’re from Kentucky."

- Jim James, talking about how the band sometimes is tagged as a southern-rock band.

(PopMatters interview, October 2005)

"Look at a picture of us. We have long hair and dueling guitar solos and those are elements of it. But anybody who said that never took the time to listen. There’s nothing wrong with it, we just don’t agree with the comparison. We love southern rock, but we don’t play southern rock."

- Patrick Hallahan
(PopMatters interview, October 2005)

"Well, we don’t like being pigeonholed, period. I think we got tired of the southern rock hillbillies from Kentucky thing. All the Lynyrd Skynyrd references and types of things. We just got tired of lazy journalists that assume that we’re from Kentucky, so we’re not wearing shoes. Or we’re hippies…. But how would they know what we’re really like? That’s why we don’t complain about it any more."

- Patrick Hallahan, when asked what journalists always get wrong about My Morning Jacket
(The Star interview, June 2008)

"We try to never subscribe to any label or genre, we just don't like to be classified."

- Tom Blankenship
(Rolling Stone interview, October 2005)

Langerado (2007)

My Morning Jacket at Langerado Music Festival 2007, photo by Tyler Machado

On the 10th of March 2007, day two of the festival, My Morning Jacket performed at the Langerado Music Festival. The festival was an annual music festival, taking place in early spring in South Florida, first organized in 2003.

A taping of the performance can be found at the Live Music Archive.

Carl Broemel at Langerado Music Festival 2007, photo by Tyler Machado

Setlist from the MMJ archive
1. One Big Holiday
2. What A Wonderful Man
3. Dancefloors
4. Lowdown
5. Lay Low
6. Wordless Chorus
7. Phone Went West
8. Cobra
9. Golden
10. The Way That He Sings
11. Dondante
12. Gideon
13. Off The Record
14. Run Thru
15. They Ran
16. Bermuda Highway
17. Steam Engine
----------
18. Mahgeetah
19. Anytime

Two Halves

Two Halves is the seventh track on 2008 album Evil Urges.

Lyrics from CD booklet
Remember when you was 17?
You's going crazy- you know what I mean.
It weren't that long ago- in the grand scheme of things.
It weren't that long ago- you think you're so much smarter now.
21- everything stays in place, 41 some things start to fade-
Well when you're so young you want to be older.
And when you're older you want the body you have now.

I believe in a perfect world you'd rule your own universe-
The only company you'd need would be in your brain.
The only company you ever need is in your head

You want this, now, you want that- can't have it all
You should enjoy what you have-
But I know what you want-
Well I know what you want-
Well I know what you want-
You want the better of two halves

Length of album version: 2:33
Written by: Jim James
Also appears on:

Studio Notes

“I used ‘Blacky’ [black ’88 Gibson Les Paul Standard] into a Boss RV-5 digital reverb, a modded Boss TR-2 tremolo, out to the Fender Pro Junior. Later, we did an overdub with the Ovation 12-string into an old tweed Fender Bassman. “

- Carl Broemel, talking about his gear choice
(EQ Magazine extra, November 2008)

Band quotes

"[it's about his tendency to] get caught up in the past or the future. It’s tough sometimes to be grateful for what you have right now"

- Jim James
(Dallas News, August 2008)