My Morning Jacket have released a new album of acoustic covers and originals titled Peacelands. According to frontman Jim James, these are meant to be peaceful protest songs, and all proceeds from the album are going to “organizations fighting for our safety and freedoms here at home.”

James spoke with The Current host Zach McCormick about the album’s message and artwork, and sent love to the people of Minnesota.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Zach McCormick: Zach McCormick from The Current, joined right now by Jim James. You probably know his work from My Morning jacket. New acoustic album Peacelands is out now. Jim, first of all, thank you so much for taking an interest in what's happening here in the Twin Cities and all over Minnesota. I was wondering, when did you first become aware of the effects that ICE's presence was having on Minnesota, and how did you translate those initial reactions into the roots of this new album?

Jim James: It's been hard not to be aware of all the things that have been happening with ICE and then obviously the great tragedy of the loss of life. That stuff that's escalated things. God, to say that we love Minneapolis and Minnesota would be a great understatement. We've spent so much time there and just love being there, love playing there. I just keep trying to think, as it all unfolds, how can I be a force of peace and love? How can I be a force of deescalating the hatred and the violence? How can My Morning Jacket be helpful? How can I be helpful? And the only answer that I reliably come back to time and time again is music. So I started thinking about my favorite songs that spoke to that, and putting those songs together and hoping that in a very real way, that for anybody who might want to listen to those songs, they could provide some calm and some healing and some peace.

Zach McCormick: Let's talk about the track selection process there and the sequencing of this very unique record. You've included some of your own previously unreleased songs, along with some really cool covers. You know, everybody from tunes by Brian Wilson to Timmy Thomas. I see some Sonny Boy Williamson on there, our very own Bob Dylan. How did you approach the track selection for a record like this?

Jim James: I had a really interesting session that I did where all of these songs were speaking to me, and even more songs that weren't included. I sat in the studio just with an acoustic guitar and just played the songs. Then I was just like, "Okay, what songs speak to the moment?" If you look at all the songs, not every song is specifically a protest song. Some of them are just encouraging the beauty of diversity, like "Rainbow Power" or the Buck Owens song "Together Again." That one just struck me in the heart, because I just thought of families who have been separated by ICE being reunited together again. Just those things as simple as that. The song, "Everything Must Change," Nina Simone did the definitive version of that song. That's always been one of my go-to songs in difficult times. I think it helps us all to zoom out sometimes from the big everyday things that are happening, and remember, everything will change. Everything must change. The grand scheme of things, it often helps me to remember that 1.3 million Earths fit in the Sun. That's how small the Earth is. If you zoom out in the whole entire cosmos, the universe, the Earth is a grain of sand. Sometimes, when it all seems like too much, it helps me to zoom out and sit back in the stars, and look back at the Earth and just remember our place in the cosmos.

Zach McCormick: I love that you have these messages of this too shall pass. Some of this in the track list, there's some of them that are just sort of like you said, songs of universal love. I think it's a really cool curation of songs, and it sounds like a cathartic recording experience for you too. You were in the studio solo with your acoustic guitar, probably working through some of the same emotions that we all are here in the Twin Cities. What was that recording session like? How did that all come together?

Jim James: That's the great thing about — at least for me in my life, and I think for all of us — music. I keep thinking about anger, and I keep thinking about, how do we productively channel our anger, not let it turn into hatred? How do we take that anger? And for me, the main way I've done that my entire life is through music. If I'm upset or angry about the way things are going, whether that's the state of the world or just in my own personal life, I put it into music. And also, just as a listener, I use music to channel my anger, too. Even if I'm not playing it. So I've been thinking a lot about that and how we can all productively channel our anger. Whether that's just going to the gym and punching a punching bag or going to therapy or singing a song or doing work for an organization that you care about or donating to an organization that's helping. All these ways we can really face our anger, and don't shove it down, don't don't push it down, but don't let it turn into hatred. That's where we all have to be careful.

Zach McCormick: I'm talking to Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The new acoustic album Peacelands is out now, and we're talking about it. I love that idea of translating these intense emotions into something positive. You released Peacelands recently on Bandcamp, and in addition to expressing solidarity with the people here in Minnesota, you're also donating proceeds to a couple of different organizations. Can you talk about each of those orgs and why you decided to work with them?

Jim James: The list is fluctuating, and can be anything. We donated to the Women's Coalition is helping refugees there and immigrants there, and, you know, ACLU is always fighting for our freedoms and the freedoms of immigrants and the freedoms of U.S. citizens, and Doctors Without Borders is obviously doing unbelievable work. So we're like, let's place this with as many different things as we can to help. And that's the interesting thing about music that we were talking about. Because of streaming, music has been devalued, right? People don't really buy music anymore. So it's an interesting thing for artists. The only way that you can make money digitally is through Bandcamp. So let's do this just on Bandcamp at first, see how much money we can raise, and then put it up on streaming and everywhere. And then eventually we'll do a vinyl pressing of it, where the sales of the vinyl will go to these organizations and stuff, too. It takes six months to get vinyl back. So we wanted to try to get something flowing and just get the music out there. But it is kind of cool nowadays, how quickly you can put something out there. The Internet has brought so much chaos into our lives, but it also has brought cool things like this, where we can communicate quickly and release music quickly. That's something that I try to see the good side of the of the internet every now and again. It's kind of killing us, social media and the internet. I don't think we'd be in this much of a mess if it weren't for social media and the internet. I think those things have kind of brought us quicker to this point of chaos. So I'm constantly trying to figure out, like, "How can I use these things for peace? How can we use these things to deescalate?" And again, I come back to music. That's it at the end of the day, for me,

Zach McCormick: It's something that you've got expertise in, so why not lean into that to try to make the change that you want to see in the world? I think that's great. I love that we keep circling back around to peace as a theme for this record and the album's title, Peacelands. Can you explain a little bit of the inspiration behind the title and maybe give folks some context about the artist, Mark Anthony Mulligan.

Jim James: Mark Anthony Mulligan was an incredible artist here from Louisville, Kentucky. He was known for drawing scenes from Louisville and stuff in this really wild, really unique style. He would talk often about this word, “peacelands.” And he would talk about this place, you know, where people lived in peace. He described it as a subdivision. It's like this place you go and you live, and, you know, everybody gets along and there's peace. And I just think about that. That word pops in my head all the time, and it's kind of like a magic trick. So I was trying to get that word into the consciousness more. Because the divide and conquer thing, it's working too well on us. I just hope for everybody's benefit. It doesn't matter what side you're on or where you fall on the whole thing. We got to start coming together, and we got to start really learning to love each other and agreeing to disagree in peace. Leave the other person in peace and respect their views and respect their boundaries and just agree to disagree. Share the same community, and share the same grocery store. You worship at your place. I'll worship in mine. All my blessings to you. And I love that Mark said that in such a cool way, and he passed away a few years ago. I just wanted to honor him and that word, and hope that that word got into the consciousness of people, and that word started floating around more, because it's such a beautiful word. I wish it was like a becomes like an “abracadabra,” peacelands thing. Let's turn this thing around. Let's create that peacelands. So the word peacelands, to me was just a reminder of that.

Zach McCormick: It's a beautiful concept, and I'm so glad you chose to use it to name this wonderful batch of tunes. Again, some original songs from you that were previously unreleased, a bunch of wonderful covers as well. The new album is called Peacelands. It's out now. Jim James, thank you so much for being engaged with what's going on here in the Twin Cities. Thank you for expressing the solidarity. Just wondered if you had any final words to share with your fans in here in Minnesota. Otherwise, we'll love listening to this record and really appreciate all the love that you're sending our way.

Jim James: Oh, thanks so much, Zach. We love the Twin Cities so much, and we just are sending so much peace and love and vibes of healing and unity and can't even express in words. Which is why we're trying to express in music how much love that we have and just how we wish and pray and work every day for peace. We believe it can happen. Believe in the possibility of peacelands for everybody.

Zach McCormick: Gosh, I hope it comes true. Jim James, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for joining us today on The Current. Your new album, peace lands is out now, and we can't wait for more folks to hear it. Thank you and take care.

Jim James: Thanks so much. Zach.

Credits

Guest - Jim James

Host - Zach McCormick

Producer - Derrick Stevens

Digital Producer - Reed Fischer

Stream and download My Morning Jacket’s Peacelands at Bandcamp: