Reuters

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http://au.launch.yahoo.com/051002/11/aepe.html

My Morning Jacket makes alterations
(Reuters, Sunday October 2, 4:36 PM)  
NEW YORK (Billboard) - The January 2004 departure of My Morning Jacket members Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash presented more than just a hole in the lineup: The Louisville, Ky.-based band's longtime recording studio was located on Quaid's grandparents' Indiana farm.
So with new guitarist Carl Broemel and keyboardist Bo Koster in tow, MMJ headed north to Allaire Studios in upstate New York with veteran producer John Leckie (Stone Roses, Radiohead) to record "Z," its second release for ATO/RCA. The 10-track set arrives October 4 in North America and is the follow-up to 2003's "It Still Moves."

"This time, we couldn't just drive home when we were done recording," frontman Jim James says. "We were locked in there for a whole month." The need to buckle down and make things happen yielded an album of purely live performances (including a number of first-take vocals from James) and a suite of songs that takes the band far beyond the "Southern rock meets Radiohead" comparisons of its past.

Highlights include the soaring space rocker "Gideon," the piano- and pedal steel guitar-tinged ballad "Knot Comes Loose" and the bouncy "Off the Record," which morphs into a smoky, soul-driven instrumental interlude.

Songs like "Anytime" find James tapping into a well of raw emotion. "I kind of like imperfections within a vocal, because I've never been a singer that is always right on pitch," he says. "I think it's fun if your voice cracks in a powerful way."

The band played nearly 400 shows in the 18 months that followed the release of "It Still Moves." Both fans and industry observers agree that powerful live performances were the key factor in raising its profile.

"They are one of the greatest live bands in the land right now," Coalition of Independent Music Stores president Don Van Cleave enthuses.

MMJ begins a North American tour October 6 in Atlanta and will be on the road through Thanksgiving. According to manager Mike Martinovich, the band will head to Europe and Australia early next year, and likely return to North America for another tour in March or April.

After a September 2003 performance on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" that left the host visibly wowed, MMJ will return to the show October 13.

"Z" is also receiving a boost from the upcoming Cameron Crowe film "Elizabethtown," in which the act portrays fictional band Ruckus and performs Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird."

Reuters/Billboard

[ratsprayer]

http://au.launch.yahoo.com/051002/11/aepe.html

MMJ begins a North American tour October 6 in Atlanta and will be on the road through Thanksgiving. According to manager Mike Martinovich, the band will head to Europe and Australia early next year, and likely return to North America for another tour in March or April.

boom!  my prediction is right!  now i can start wondering where theyll play near me that theyre not already hitting on this leg of the tour?