We're big, hairy guys from Kentucky," says My Morning Jacket singer Jim James. Which is one way of explaining that the Louisville rock band operates without much concern for urban hipness. Onstage, its members go barefoot and play Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky"; they sport the kind of gnarly hair and beards that went out of style before they were born; and they recorded most of James' vocals for their new album, It Still Moves, in a grain silo.

MMJ sound very little like any other band out there today. It Still Moves is full of atmospheric roots rock -- imagine the Flaming Lips covering Neil Young -- with bluesy guitars and folky melodies drenched in reverb. James cites walking as his favorite activity, which may explain the sense of little-kid wonder in his music. "My favorite songs are the sad songs," he says. "There's something about not being able to understand the world you live in that lends itself to mystery."

James formed the band with guitarist Johnny Quaid and two Louisville buddies in 1998. Their first break, strangely, came when a DJ from the Netherlands discovered MMJ's first album, The Tennessee Fire. "This guy said it reminded him of the music he listened to growing up," James says. "They brought us over there and made a film about how weird it was for us to come from Kentucky, where no one gave a shit, to Holland, where people cared. It was surreal."

MMJ earned a spot opening for Foo Fighters in July, after Dave Grohl fell in love with MMJ's second album, At Dawn. And though they're on the road now more than ever, they say they're happiest chilling out in Louisville. "We play a lot of Frisbee, I guess," Quaid says. "Everybody is kind of in their own world. Our slogan is, 'Don't think about anything too much.' "

Christian Hoard
(September 9, 2003)