MUSIC

Chills: 11 My Morning Jacket Songs That Kill Me

Does it shiver? Always deliver? Does it know me at all?

Jim James of My Morning Jacket performing in Columbus Ohio, 2017. Image by author. ©2017 Grace Ombry

Recently I had the distinct thrill of seeing my longtime favorite rock act, My Morning Jacket (MMJ), performing a three-night run at The Chicago Theater. Each night was more mind-blowing than the one that preceded it. I’ve been seeing this terrific band live since 2008, and somehow they just keep getting better.

Like any diehard music fan, I’ve been known to veer erratically in my declarations of favorite band. I will stan hard for Fuzz, Dead Meadow, Tame Impala, Fruit Bats, Menomena, Ty Segall (Spotify Wrapped is dead certain I’m Segall’s №1 fan, three years running), and especially Pearl Jam, not to mention the older stuff I’ve loved forever like The Cure, Pink Floyd, Yes, and ELP.

But with My Morning Jacket, I tend to underestimate how thoroughly in love with them I am until I see them live in concert again, then I go ass over tea cart. Unsurprising since MMJ is considered by some to be the best live rock act from the United States.

When I saw The Riff’s Scott-Ryan Abt’s fantastically fresh story prompt of sharing ten (or eleven) songs that grab you by the boo-boo every single time, I instantly knew I could do the whole thing with My Morning Jacket. Easily…