My Morning Jacket is an American rock band known for their reverb-heavy sound, their eclectic mix of country rock, indie rock, funk, psychedelic, and southern rock styles, and enthusiastic and energetic live shows. Formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky, the band signed with ATO Records four years later.
The band's moniker comes from a discarded coat lead singer Jim James found while sifting through the remains of his favorite bar after it burned down. The coat was embroidered with the letters "MMJ"
Singer/songwriter/guitarist James' bandmates are bassist "Two Tone Tommy" Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist/pedal steel guitarist/saxophonist/vocalist Carl Broemel and keyboardist Bo Koster.
The band is also known for being featured (under the name Ruckus) in the 2005 film Elizabethtown.
The original line-up of MMJ in 1998 consisted of Jim James on guitar, "Two Tone" Tommy on bass, J. Glenn on drums, and Johnny Quaid on guitar. In 1999 The Tennessee Fire, the band's debut album, was released on Darla Records. In 2000 the band was augmented by the addition of Danny Cash (layout and keyboards). Although the second album At Dawn was recorded with drummer J. Glenn, he had already left the band by the time the album was released by Darla in 2001. J. Glenn was replaced by Chris 'KC' Guetig. In May 2002 James' childhood friend Patrick Hallahan replaced Guetig...
In 2003 MMJ released It Still Moves, their major-label debut. The release of the album was followed by the live EP Acoustic Citsuoca. This EP was notable for the total absence of reverb on Jim James' vocals, a sound very different from their earlier works. In January 2004 Quaid and Cash both amicably left the band to be replaced by Carl Broemel and Bo Koster. In November 2004 the band released two collections of early work, which included old demos, live versions, and covers. These discs, entitled Early Recordings Chapter 1 - The Sandworm Cometh and Early Recordings Chapter 2 - Learning, document the formation and progress in the band's early years. October 2005 saw the release of the critically acclaimed album Z, which greatly displayed the evolution of the band. In 2006 MMJ were musical guests on The Late Show with David Letterman, performing with members of the Boston Pops, with whom they played two shows at Boston Symphony Hall later in the month. 2006 also saw the release of live double album and DVD Okonokos.
They did not perform at the 2007 Bonnaroo Music Festival in order to rest and record their new album Evil Urges, which was released on June 10, 2008 followed by a June 20 show at Radio City Music Hall.
They performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April.
They performed for a fifth time at Bonnaroo 2008. Playing a near 4 hour set starting at midnight on Friday, it featured guest appearances by Kirk Hammett of Metallica and comedian Zach Galifianakis, as well as the Nashville-Louisville horns. Thirty-five songs were performed during the marathon set, including many covers (i.e. Erykah Badu's Tyrone, Kool and the Gang's Get Down on It, Sly and the Family Stone's Hot Fun in the Summertime, James Brown's Cold Sweat, Bobby Womack's Across 110th Street, Funkadelic's "Hit It and Quit It," Velvet Underground's "Oh! Sweet Nuthin," and Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home), all but two tracks of their latest album Evil Urges, and majority of the band's many fan favorites.
On May 10th 2008, they were the musical guest on Saturday Night Live and played "Evil Urges" as well as "I'm Amazed" off of their upcoming CD.
In August 2008, an animated music video for the song "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2" was released. The video has been well received by critics and fans alike and was created by the graphics design team Hornet's Mixtape Club.
