I’ve been writing on this blog in varying stages of regularity for a hair over ten years now and, having kicked off with reference to one of my favourite bands, it feels the time is right for me to stitch together a handful of My Morning Jacket’s songs that I enjoy a whole fucking lot.

Like so many others, My Morning Jacket came into my aural sockets via one of those cds attached with funky gloop to the front of a music magazine. From first hearing ‘One Big Holiday’ I was hooked. While It Still Moves got the thumbs up from me it was Z that blew me away and still ranks as one of my all-time favourites.

Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky the band got going in 1998. A couple of strong, promising albums The Tennessee Fire and At Dawn on indie-label Darla were followed by lineup changes and signing to major distribution with ATO for break-through It Still Moves and have been mining a rich seam of guitar-driven excellence that bridges indie-rock/folk, alt.country and full tilt jam outs that veer gloriously toward psychadelia since all pinned down by Jim James’ voice. While it’s fair to say there’s been the odd dip post-Z as they continued to try driving their sound down different avenues, their albums are always worth tuning in and contain plenty of cracking moments as they keep exploring and they’re a brilliant live act as the constant presence of their two official live albums – Okonokos and Live Vol.1 – on my turntable will gladly demonstrate.

While The Waterfall marked their last effort for some years – indeed, it looked like the end of the band was on the cards for some time – a reinvigorated My Morning Jacket emerged in 2021 with a self-titled effort that saw them playing at their finest again.

It’s near-impossible to condense their work into five tunes, so let’s leave at being a case of ‘here are five My Morning Jacket songs’:

The Way That He Sings (2001)

One Big Holiday (2003)

Anytime (2005)

Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt.2 (2008)

Complex (2021)