Jim James Breaks From My Morning Jacket for Solo Tour
My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James will be heading out on sans MMJ to support his upcoming solo debut album.
The new trek will begin February 18 at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, and the bearded one has dates scheduled through a May 15 appearance at Neptune in Seattle. However, he won’t be on the road that entire time, as he’ll be taking March and the first half of April off. He will visit most regions of the U.S. on the tour, and will make stops in New York, Milwaukee, Chicago, Philadephia, Nashville, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Prior to the tour, James will appear on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” two nights in a row (February 4-5). The first night, he will perform with the Roots, and the following night he will return to sit in with the band for the entire episode. James also will appear at this year’s Bonnaroo festival.
The singer’s first solo album, Regions of Light and Sound of God, will be released February 5, and the entire album currently is streaming on NPR’s website. Recently, James spoke to Rolling Stone about the new album, as well as about the future of My Morning Jacket and Monsters of Folk, the latter being the indie supergroup that also includes M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, the latter two of Bright Eyes. He said that the solo album came about after he was resting from an injury he received when he fell off the stage during a concert in 2008.
“I was going down a dark path,” James said. “Too much activity and not listening to myself. I’ve been really bad and I’m trying to change.” The album is inspired by the 1929 graphic novel “God’s Man” by Lynd Ward.
Regarding Monsters of Folk, James says he still talks to the fellows in the band frequently, and they want to record again (the group has only released one album so far).
“We all want to [record again],” James said. “Everybody’s just always so busy; it was so hard to make the first one happen, but I know everybody wants to.”