Nashville resident Carl Broemel has been a guitarist in My Morning Jacket since their breakthrough record Z that turns 20 this year. The lineup of the band that was first started in Louisville, Kentucky has consisted of Jim James, Patrick Hallahan, Tom Blankenship, Bo Koster and Broemel for two decades now. Their 10th studio album, Is, came out on ATO Records on March 21.
Ahead of the Is release, and the first stateside installment of MMJ’s own curated festival called One Big Holiday — hosted April 3-6 in Mirimar Beach, Florida — Broemel joined us for the first time on-site at Nashville Public Radio. One of WNXP’s earliest pro-shot and shared live sessions was, indeed, with My Morning Jacket, but coordinated and filmed at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A. I reminded Broemel that this session synced up with the eponymous My Morning Jacket full-length in 2021, when we were still in the push-and-pull with COVID-19.
“Wow, yeah, that’s crazy to think back to that. I actually got COVID the next day,” he said. “We were supposed to do a whole video shoot and I was sick and it was the beginning of, like, ‘Oh great, I’m the guy that’s ruining everything now and we can’t go anywhere and do anything.'” And yet, that upcoming weekend’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, where Jacket has played more times than most bands in the Middle Tennessee fest’s 23 years, was cancelled for weather-related reasons. Broemel wasn’t the fall guy.
In the years since releasing My Morning Jacket, the band has taken its time with the next LP. Broemel talked about its move to finality with acclaimed producer Brendan O’Brien in LA, other collaborative projects that stimulate him here at home, geeking out on new gear and sourcing new music in every way possible.
Pacing the creative output of MMJ
Carl Broemel: This record took a couple of years to make. We did a lot of demos and a lot of clubhouse jamming on our own and got a giant batch of songs and then we were just kind of bewildered. We’re excited about it all, we’re having a blast, but it was almost too much. So then we decided to bring in someone to help us kind of figure out what needed to rise to the top.
Celia Gregory: Did you feel pressured in that time to produce something and release? You guys haven’t been on an aggressive “every year a record comes out” schedule. You’re not afraid to make people wait because you’re always touring, right, and people come to see you play live?
CB: Yeah, we have a new mantra called, “It’s a marathon, not a race.” That helps us make decisions on how to do stuff. So yeah, we try to tour more regularly, but maybe not as long. And then for albums, we do that when we’re feeling fresh, not necessarily when we were supposed to be doing it. So it’s pacing.
The outside producer’s touch
CG: What, from your perspective, clicked with Brendan [O’Brien] that made it, like, “Yes, here we are” with this batch of stuff?
CB: First of all, we’re all huge fans of his. His records that he made when his career was taking off were the records that I was listening to in high school.
CG: Like what?
CB: You know, like [Red Hot Chili Peppers] Blood Sugar Sex Magik. He was the engineer on that record and then he did the Black Crowes’ second record, which I thought really sounded amazing. And then the second Pearl Jam record [Vs.]. And that was kind of as he rose up. And so, those were the records that we obsessed over in high school….and he’s done so much since then. I just loved his no-nonsense approach to everything. He’s like, “This is great.” And if he had criticism, he always had a good idea. You know, it just felt fresh to have him around.
CG: Like he might offer a criticism, but then “Can you think about it this way?” and a direction to go?
CB: Exactly, exactly, “But what about this?” And that’s a good, adult way to approach collaborating, right? And he’s made so many records, it’s just like, he’s pro. We kind of started thinking of him as our coach.
“Half a Lifetime”
CG: Can you think of a specific song that, when you were working it out in studio, had you all as a band gelling the way you have now for 20 years? Was there a place that really felt synergistic in-studio?
CB: It’s funny, there’s a song on the record called “Half a Lifetime” that’s actually 20 years old. We worked on it during Z, and we couldn’t quite get it together. We liked the song, but when we played it, we felt like we didn’t crack the code yet. In that song, we were in Jim’s basement working on it, and Brendan was there, and he was just like, “What if the kick drum goes there instead of there?” And we did that, and it was like, “Oh, now we’ve got this one.” It was just a simple little dash of salt, you know? And then we were there. So that was really a cool moment…I’m really happy with that one. And I’m glad it kind of harkens back to that era because, in that way, it was sort of an easy one to finish.
Recording at Henson Studios
CB: The place that we recorded was really cool, Henson Studios in LA. The history of Henson is so thick and rich. There are studios in Nashville that are kind of that. But Henson was Charlie Chaplin’s soundstage, and it’s still there. Like where he filmed some of his great movies. And then it was A&M Records. One of the rooms is Karen Carpenter’s room. And then it was bought by the Henson company. So there’s a giant Kermit the Frog greeting you every time you show up every day.
I think the energy of that place is in this record too for me. I just loved being there. I love recording studios. I like coming here [WNXP], I like looking at all the soundproofing, you know. I geek out on that stuff. So Henson was a heavy place, but I think it seeped into the record a little bit.
Accumulating gear
CG: I watched recently your rig rundown from some ten years ago. And I wonder about how your stage setup has changed, for all the gear heads that are hearing this and love watching you play guitar, but maybe can’t see all the pedals and such. How have you evolved as a as an instrumentalist with toys?
CB: It keeps growing. Jim [James] will write a song with a weird guitar tuning and I’m like, “Sweet, I get to go get a new guitar!” Because I just want to keep it simple and leave that guitar for that song or whatever. I mean it’s always evolving and changing. I can’t bring myself to go fully digital. A lot of guitar players are doing that now and they just have like one brain that does everything. That’s just not fun for me. It does sound OK. It sounds pretty good, but this is not fun.
CG: Are you more tactile?
CB: I need to have a bunch of boxes connected together and maybe it’s all gonna blow up. That’s more fun.
Futurebirds collaboration
CG: You’ve released solo records. You’ve also in recent years really helped elevate other bands and artists. I love your collaboration with Futurebirds. How have you maintained, I don’t know, sort of a pace to your creative output knowing that Jacket’s still gonna be the band and tour will come. How do you balance your time, when you’re not on the road, at home creatively?
CB: I try not to take too many things, but I get excited I get energy for certain things. Like sitting behind a mixing board in a studio while another band that I’m not playing with is performing gives me energy and it’s so different than what my role is in the band That’s sort of to create new neuron connections and new skills at this point, being a middle-aged person. Whatever does that, I like doing.
CG: How did that Futurebirds connection come to pass?
CB: Their manager reached out to me, we had some mutual friends, and then I started hanging out with Carter [King], one of the songwriters in the band. [King is also based in Nashville, whereas most of the Futurebirds band members still live in Athens, Georgia.] We just started playing, started goofing around at my house. We packed into my home studio for a couple days and just started experimenting. They’re so fun to be around and they’re a little younger than me and we just got connected. We like the same stuff. I like bands, too, with a lot of songwriters. You know, it’s really interesting to me. I’ve always liked like The Band or Dr. Dog.
Music discovery
CG: You already referenced being a middle-aged guy, you’ve been playing music for so long, and you also have a teenage son. So how do you see the future of discovering music? Maybe it’s yours that’s new to them. You’re a brand-new-to-them band because they found you on the streamers, or maybe you hear a song on the radio.
CB: I think we need all facets, you know? I think we need the DSPs. I’m at peace with everything. I’m trying to focus on what works for me personally, which may not be everyone. I like to get one record and obsess over it for a couple of weeks. That’s how I consume music and I need boundaries. So like, I want to hear about music from friends or hear it from the radio station or whatever. I’ve heard a couple artists on WNXP that I went and found their record and listened to it and got obsessed for a couple weeks, you know?
And it’s interesting, at this point, that maybe someone would think we’re a new band. [Laughs.] That’s cool, too. don’t know if you ever saw we were on [TV show] “American Dad.” Yeah, oh, right. That was one of my favorite ways for people to find out about us because I think they thought we were imaginary. I’m like, that’s cool, too.
To me, WNXP — this is like my love letter to NXP — our town is growing so fast and it sometimes gets really confusing and frustrating and we need variety. I wanna be in a real city, you know what I mean? That’s part of what makes this place a real city, I think. It feels like the DJs here, you have freedom. There’s freedom to play stuff. Let’s keep the freedom and energy going.
CG: I think what I meant about somebody discovering My Morning Jacket now is like, what if one of these songs is on a playlist with a lot of new, emerging bands that have drawn from you, right? They are actually emulating the sound of My Morning Jacket, but the way it works now is that you’re all thrown together as equals in a playlist that somebody discovers. And then it’s an even playing field in that way.
CB: Yeah, and who cares who came first? Like, who wants to play that game? Keeping score is not part of my life.