My Morning Jacket’s Jim James Fuses Sonic Innovation with Southern Charm

Renowned as one the greatest live bands of their generation, as well as for their eclectically energetic sound, My Morning Jacket guitarist and lead vocalist Jim James is every bit as engaging a conversationalist as he is a performer. I had the pleasure of chatting with him in advance of their show at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Wednesday, August 20. 

The band is back on the road for their MY MORNING JACKET “is” ON TOUR and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their acclaimed 2005 fourth studio album, Z, with a number of shows that will see them performing the collection in its entirety. And what’s it like to revisit your history in that way? 

“It’s cool, because it’s like a time machine, you know? It’s like you kind of go back and it brings back a lot of memories of what you were doing then, and who you were back then,” said James, with a soft Kentucky-accented voice that can pivot onstage to a sultry growl, and full-blown howling that somehow appears effortless. 

“I think everybody likes a good nostalgia trip, but we try not to play on that too much because we hope that our music is useful and timeless,” James continued. “But then when you do the whole album, start to finish, it does kind of give you that nostalgia trip of kind of taking you back to the year it came out, and what you’re doing and how you were feeling, and all that stuff. So, it’s a cool way to reflect.”

Obviously, you’re in a different stage of life than you were 20 years ago. Are there things that feel very different? 

Oh, god, yeah, so different. It’s wild. It’s really cool, because we still play all those songs a lot. So it’s not like we haven’t played them in 20 years. We still play them all the time. And that really makes me feel good, that we still enjoy playing them and people still enjoy hearing them. That really makes me just feel so grateful. And yeah, I’ve done a lot of work on myself to try and battle my own depression and my own demons and stuff like that. So it’s been a really beautiful process of kind of being able to look back at these younger versions of Jim, and kind of hold compassion for him, and kind of see where he was struggling, or see where he was just really hard on himself or whatever. And it’s cool. I feel like I’m kind of the parent to young Jim now. I kind of hold his hand and take him through these songs and stuff. And it’s a beautiful experience. 

Whereas before, when I was still super lost in depression or alcoholism or whatever, it was really hard at times for me to go back and visit these old versions of Jim, because we were all lost in the muck. I feel so grateful to have gotten a foot out of the muck a little bit. It’s a lifelong battle. But, I mean, I feel like I’ve made some progress where I can be like a father figure to my younger self when I have to go back and sing these songs and stuff, and it’s become a really beautiful thing.

That’s very cool. As you’re picking your openers, do you have that kind of feeling about some of those less experienced bands, too?

Kind of, yeah, it’s so cool to see everybody on their journey. You know, we’ve played with so many different artists in so many different walks of life and ages and places in their career. And we’re out with a band called Melt right now. And they’ve got a really fresh, really vibrant energy. It’s just so cool to see the people that you share the stage with kind of make you view your own life in different ways. 

And the world has changed so much since we were starting. I feel like we kind of slid in right as the garage door of the Internet came crashing down, we kind of slid under it. You know, we’re like one of the last old-school bands, you know, pre-internet bands or whatever. So it’s really interesting to kind of watch how all of the newer bands try to navigate their own quest in such a different world than the one we started off in.

Absolutely. One of those big changes, at least to me, that people don’t talk about as much, is the concept of an album. As a musician and a producer, you’re putting so much thought into the pacing of how you know how you want it to be listened to, and then people, a lot of times, are just listening to things sort of randomly on their own playlist, which is super different, right?

I feel like all that stuff, it’s just in the hands of the universe, really. I don’t really even think about it, because I love albums, and we create albums to be listened to. But we also create songs, and I love the idea of some person who’s never even heard of us, one of our songs pops up on their algorithm, or whatever, and it makes their day a little better. And then maybe they only ever loved that song. … Or maybe that’s a gateway, and they end up loving the band and coming to see us live and becoming part of the community. But even if they don’t, I love the thought of maybe just that one little song hits them and then that hopefully helps them through this strange experience called life. You know, it’s like, I feel like any way we can help. 

That’s a good, healthy attitude, too. Have you always wanted to be a musician? When did you first pick up a guitar?

Yeah, that’s all that really ever made sense to me, ever since I was a kid, and I saw the Muppet Show. I saw Kermit singing with the banjo, and I saw the Electric Mayhem playing rock and roll. That’s all that really ever made sense to me. I feel like I’m really lucky. My mom read with me a lot, and I love to read and I love to learn, but I always hated school, and felt like the way my schooling was done was just so backwards and so counterintuitive to how people should be schooled. So I always really struggled with that, but all through it all, I always had music to lean on. And I’m so grateful for that, because that was just kind of the only place I’ve ever felt like I belonged. 

In terms of music, you’re sort of known as kind of being a chameleon. Do you feel that way about yourself, or is that just how other people talk about you?

Tell me more about the chameleon.

In doing some homework for this interview, people said, “Well, he does this, and he does this, and he might do this,” and sort of struggling to describe your style.

Oh, definitely, yeah. I mean, I just love all music, you know. I just love it all. So it all comes into what I do. And we’ve never set out to be any one kind of band, nor have I ever set out to be any one kind of artist. So we just like to try it all, you know. It doesn’t really matter what genre it is or what. I feel like all those things are illusions anyway. They’re ways to keep people separate. 

I think a lot of those labels that have been put on music were created by business people long ago, as the music industry began and they were trying to find different ways to market and sell to people. Behind it all, it’s all the same, you know? It’s like all music is the same. It’s like people have different expressions and different ways of living. And it’s all also beautiful. I feel like the more we can erase any boundaries, or any illusions of separateness between people, the more we’ll evolve into peace. You know, where we all really can live. I really believe we can all live in peace, but we’ve got to start erasing these boundaries and seeing the similarities. 

So, yeah, I feel like music is one of those things. You know, you listen to the country singer and you listen to the hip-hop singer and they’re saying the same thing. They’re saying the exact same thing. You listen to the indie rock singer and you listen to Billie Holiday and they’re saying the same thing, you know? It’s like everybody’s like, we all just want to be loved, we want to be safe, and we want to figure out life. And it just sounds a little different here and there.

I agree with you, and I like the sound of that too. When you’re on tour, when you’re performing, are you always thinking about writing, or is that sort of like a different time? How does that work? 

It’s kind of hard to think about writing when we’re on tour, because just so much of your creative energy goes into the show every night. And kind of, I’ve heard this from a lot of people, but it’s definitely true for me. It’s like you really almost go into survival mode because you’re using so much fight-or-flight adrenaline energy every night, because you want to put on a great show and you know, and you’re putting lots of creativity into your performance and stuff. So you really don’t have a lot left for songwriting and stuff. But I do a lot of note taking. I’ll have a little idea popping in my dreams, or while I’m taking a walk, and I’ll do some voice memos. … One thing I like to do is just listen to demos of things I’m working on back home while I’m on tour, and kind of take notes, and I’ll have some inspirations just kind of walking around listening to something. So I still work in that way, but it’s hard to be like, sheerly creative and productive on the road.

Besides what you’re doing with your own music, is there any music that you’re particularly excited about right now?

Gosh, that’s a good question. My mind always goes blank whenever somebody asks me that. I feel like there’s so much great music in the world. There’s an artist called Jenny O. in L.A. that I really love her stuff, I  really love what she’s doing. She’s trying to write about the environment and the planet and a lot of really important things. I really love her music.  Shabazz Palaces is one of my favorite groups. They’re always doing really, really inventive, fresh stuff. Yeah, those are two that I’ve been into lately.

As far as Santa Barbara goes, you’ve been here a few times. Are you going to get to spend any time here while you’re here?

Because we do L.A. the night before, and then we roll in so we don’t have a ton of time, but I love being at the Bowl there. I mean, it’s just so beautiful, just kind of even being there, because the area of Santa Barbara is just so epic and so beautiful. And I’ve spent so much time there, because I live in L.A. part-time too. And going up and down through Santa Barbara and in Santa Barbara is just like that part of the world is so beautiful. And the Bowl is just one of the most magical venues on Earth. So we’re always so excited to be back there again. 

We’re excited to have you, and I’m excited to see you guys. Is there anything else you want people to know about this tour?

We just want people to come and have a good time and feel safe and feel loved. That’s one thing we keep realizing and feeling grateful for is just the vibrations of the people at the show feels so good to us on stage, and we like to think and hope that it’s a world where people can come and meet other people and experience some kind of transfer of love and peace. And you know, meet some new friends, see some old friends, like just that sense of community that music brings, even if you’re not really completely familiar with the band or even that knowledgeable of a band. It’s always just nice to go and connect with people. And we’re trying to just talk about that a lot of trying to create a space where everybody’s welcome and everybody feels safe and, you know, just a place of total acceptance and love and stuff like that. 

So, yeah, we just hope that people can come and not forget about the world, but hold the world with love, and kind of hold each other with love and just kind of recharge, to have to go back into the world with a little fresher hopefully, you know, after you see a concert, that energizes you.

My Morning Jacket will be at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Wednesday, August 20. Click here for more information.