Maine Today

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http://entertainment.mainetoday.com/music/051013morningjacke.shtml

My Morning Jacket living the dream


By STEPHANIE BOUCHARD

 
IF YOU GO  
My Morning Jacket and Kathleen Edwards

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: State Theatre, 609 Congress St., Portland

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $16.50 in advance, $18.50 day of the show.

TICKETS: Purchase tickets in person (cash only) at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Spring Street in Portland or call Ticketmaster at 775-3331. The State Theatre box office opens at 4 p.m. on the day of the show.

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When he was a kid, Patrick Hallahan, now 27, used to dream of being a rock star. "My brothers and I and some kids in the neighborhood had a fake band," he says on a cell phone as he travels through Knoxville, Tenn., on the band's bus. With their plastic guitars, the kids would rock away in Hallahan's parents' driveway.

He's traded in his plastic guitar for a set of drums and a real rock band, My Morning Jacket. The band performs at the State Theatre Sunday with Kathleen Edwards opening.

Based in Kentucky, the five-man band My Morning Jacket was formed in 1998, with its debut album, "The Tennessee Fire" released in 1999. The original lineup featured a group of longtime friends, Johnny Quaid, Danny Cash, Jim James, Two-Tone Tommy and Hallahan.

After the release of the band's 2003 album, "It Still Moves," Quaid and Cash left the band and were replaced with Carl Broemel (guitar) and Bo Koster (keyboards).

The band's most recent album, "Z," the first with the new lineup, was released last week. The band started its tour in support of the new album last week.

For Hallahan, recording and doing interviews with the media is just all a part of the basics that support his real love: playing live.

The band has a reputation for putting on an intense live show, with long jams. The band, he says, "goes out and (plays) with every bit of heart and affection we can," likening the stage experience to becoming a kid again, jumping off his bed playing air guitar.

What kid doesn't harbor, at some time, fantasies of being a rock star?

But those are just fantasies, and every kid knows it. Even Hallahan. "I never thought I'd be doing it for a living."

Given the opportunity, though, Hallahan chose pursuing a career in rock music over finishing his education.

His parents were skeptical of his decision, he says. But because he was jumping into it with his longtime friend, Jim James, the band's lead singer and songwriter, his parents didn't freak out.

"My parents adore Jim and think of him as their own son," Hallahan says. And as the band has gained successes, his parents have become big fans. "They listen to the album ("Z") four times a day," he jokes. "It's pretty cute."

While Hallahan is happily living his dream right now, if it all ended tomorrow, he'd still be OK. "I'd be happy with just living and breathing, having all my fingers and toes," he insists. "You can hope and dream (about the future) but ultimately it's not in your control."

n To hear audio clips from "Z," go to entertainment.mainetoday.com.

News Assistant Stephanie Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6455 or at: sbouchard@pressherald.com 1/3 1/3