"It is what it is." The ultimate phrase of acceptance — acknowledging things as they are, without judgment or expectation. My Morning Jacket embraced that mindset on their new album, is, released March 21. After 10 albums and more than two decades together with their current lineup, the band isn't just accepting what is — they are incredibly grateful for it.
"It's just gotten more and more fun," Jim James, the band's lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and primary songwriter. This album was especially freeing for James, as he and his bandmates — Tom Blankenship (bass), Patrick Hallahan (drums), Bo Koster (keyboards, backing vocals), and Carl Broemel (lead guitar, backing vocals) — had each gone on personal journeys with therapy. Their self-worth wasn't tied to success; for the first time, they could simply play for the love of it and trust whatever followed.
"You show up to do the work and you do work that you're engaged with. But the freedom comes in knowing that at the end of the day the universe is going to shape it," James said.
That freedom was amplified by bringing in renowned producer Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen.) In the past, James felt the need to control the process. This time, he could step back and let O'Brien steer — much like a coach guiding the team from the sidelines.
"I thought I could do it all," James admits. "If the coach is on the field in the heat of the game, they're not going to have a clear mind to be able to give that overhead guidance because they're too caught up in the game."
With O'Brien overseeing the big picture, the band focused on making the music. They came up with more than 100 ideas, eventually distilling them down to ten — only the songs that truly felt right.
"There were a few songs that we cut for this record that everybody thought would be the best — and they didn't even make it." James said. That's such an interesting part of the whole thing."
The final tracklist showcases the untamed rock ‘n roll spirit the band is known for. "I Can Hear Your Love" floats with the same dreamy psychedelia as Z's beloved "Wordless Chorus." And in a full-circle moment, James rediscovered the hard-hitting "Half A Lifetime" while curating Z's 20th anniversary edition — a demo shelved for decades that finally found its home on is.
"At the end of the day, the record makes itself," James says. "For the longest time, I didn't understand that. I fought against it, bucked and swayed, and tried to get my agenda across."
Now James is done fighting, and he's accepting what is. Read on to learn what James is grateful for and how that gratitude fueled this new album in an interview with GRAMMY.com.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Doing The Work
I'm really grateful to myself for being able to do a lot of hard work and therapy to try to love myself. I've fought a lifelong battle with depression and alcoholism. I was always fighting with myself and trying to erase myself off the face of the Earth because I've never really felt like I fit in here.
Over the last five years, I've been doing a lot of work. I found a great therapist. I've been doing EMDR, parts work therapy, psychedelic therapies. I'm trying to learn how to be kinder to myself, and that branches off to everything in my life. I'm trying to be nicer to Jim, this person that I'm inhabiting this lifetime. I've been so mean to him in the past, and I feel really grateful that I've been able to make some progress towards dealing with depression.
In the past my entire self-worth was all caught up in the success or failure of my music career. My ego wouldn't let me release any control. I had to produce it. I had to sing it. I had to play it. I had to record it. I had to choose the microphones. The more that I found that I can be kind to myself, the more I've been able to let go of things. Show up to try and do the best job that I can, but let go and let the universe speak.
The peace that I've been able to find and the love that I can define for myself that no one can take away from me has really helped me look at music and my career in a different way. I don't have to ride the roller coaster of highs and lows when it comes to my deep self-worth. That made this album really new territory for me.
Coach Brenden O'Brien
This record was a beautiful experience because it was so fun to work with a coach like Brendan O'Brien. Feeling like what it must feel like to play for a pro football team that has a great coach guiding them. He has a really beautiful way of focusing on the music. He's not concerned with anything else. He doesn't need to be your best friend. He doesn't need to be your spiritual guru. He just wants to make great music.
It really made us all perk up our ears and play more attentively because we knew that coach was listening. You want to play better for coach. Normally I was the coach, and the guys respected me but I was simultaneously trying to be the singer and the guitar player and coach the other guys. I was just taking on too many roles.
It's hard to find a coach of O'Brien's status without them bringing a lot of ego to the project. It never felt like he was trying to inflate his legend or regale us with tales of the glory days. He was so laser-focused on the music.
His Teammates' Support
All of them have been on their own personal healing journeys to try and become more clear and more peaceful themselves. When we all come together now there's this beautiful sense of gratitude that has really been heightened. It is tear-jerking how much we all are so grateful for each other, how much we've been through, and how long we've been a band.
There are many times it almost imploded, and everybody's moved to this beautiful place of being able to communicate better and be there in a really clear way.
Everybody's always had a great work ethic, but it's just gotten clearer and clearer the more we've all individually tried to deal with our own sh*t instead of bringing it in. If you haven't dealt with your own sh*t, you're gonna bring it into places where it doesn't need to be.
To have this alignment happening within the band is such a universally beautiful thing. Everybody taking it upon themselves to show up as present as they can and deal with their sh*t outside of our sphere so we don't have to have that cloud our waters.
If I tried to crack the whip and force everybody to go to therapy they would just resent me. You can suggest things to people. But people have to naturally gravitate towards it. They have to do the work themselves. None of us can do that for each other. We can listen to each other. We can help each other. We can recommend, but nobody can do the work for you.
A Trusting Audience
Without the audience, there's no point to any of it. That's the circle. The experience of music. Of course, I would play music in my basement and make music myself because I love making music. But to share it is the whole point.
Love or hate the band, we've always tried to do a lot of different stuff. We've always tried to go wherever we felt inspired, and I do feel so grateful that our audience has taken that ride with us. It's a cool lesson for me in non-attachment. I used to take the ride with my ego, and if somebody didn't like something, I was all bummed out. If they liked something I was all stoked.
Now that it's been long enough there are definitely people that you hear from that didn't like a record when it came out, and then five years later they like it. It's proof that everything can change in time. Nothing's permanent, and it makes me think about my own love of music, certain artists, or certain albums I heard that I just didn't get at first. Then later, I loved them.
There's such a cool experience that isn't possible for anybody without the audience and the artist completing that circle. Both are equal halves of the circle.
Trusting The Universe
The more that I can lean into this fact that the universe is going to make [the album] whatever it wants it to be, I can work in a different way. I can work harder in the moment, without this clash of ego versus universe because the universe is always going to win.
The more we can step back and show up in our lives to work hard, do what we want to do, and put passion into our life, but also simultaneously recognize that things are going to go the way they're going to go. Just because you're training every day and playing good doesn't mean your team's going to win. It also doesn't mean your team's going to lose. Anything could happen.
It's a lifetime process, but I do feel grateful to have made some progress in that area where I can enjoy working on music and keep trying to shape it. But at the end of the day there is some unseen hand that shapes everything that I'll never understand, and I'm not supposed to.