My Morning Jacket

4 songs 3 albums

Formed in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1998 as a four-piece, My Morning Jacket has bloomed into one of the biggest American bands of the past decade. After guitarist and lead singer Jim James produced The Tennessee Fire and At Dawn, alt-country albums for Darla Records awash in reverb, MMJ was inked to ATO Records, where it began to turn toward alternative rock.

By the time the band made its critically acclaimed fourth record, Z, the current lineup—including Carl Broemel (guitar), Tom Blankenship (bass), Patrick Hallahan (percussion) and Bo Koster (keyboards) along with James—was set. In 2008, the band saw greater appeal after a performance on Saturday Night Live and earned its first Grammy nomination for its fifth album, Evil Urges. In 2009, an MMJ-centric episode of the animated cartoon American Dad brought the group wider exposure.

The band’s known for its incendiary live show, including four straight years at Bonnaroo and a nearly four-hour set at the festival in 2008.