My Morning Jacket's Jim James on His Morning Routine

For My Morning Jacket's Jim James, the answer determines what he'll have for breakfast. For dessert, though, there's creme brulee with M. Ward

By Bon Appétit

February 12, 2013

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My Morning Jacket's Jim James on His Morning Routine

Welcome to My Morning Routine, where we take a look at how people kick-start the day. And by "people" we mean celebrities.

Kentucky-bred Jim James is a workhorse. The shaggy-haired, cape-wearing frontman of My Morning Jacket built his reputation on live shows of mythological proportions, capped by epic, five-hour-long sets that launched the band into the constellation of rock stars. James, though, always seems to have his hands in something new. He formed the supergroup Monsters of Folk with
Conor Oberst and
M. Ward, recorded an album of previously unreleased Woody Guthrie tracks, and has just debuted a solo album called Region of Light and Sound of God (released February 5).When he's not collaborating on a new musical project, you might find his hands cradling the rich soil of his sister's organic farm in Louisville, or penning a blog entry about his latest creme brulee adventures with M. Ward. James filled us in on the merits of farm-to-table food ethics and his favorite Louisville spots. --Justin Bolois

If I have been good the night before and don't have to rush off somewhere really early, my morning routine is always similar: I wake around 10:30 or 11, wash my face with cold water, meditate for 20 minutes, run for 30 minutes, shower, and eat a breakfast of granola or some other gluten-free cereal with hemp milk. If I have been bad the night before, I sleep until noon or one, and eat some eggs with a chick patty on gluten free english muffins with nutritional yeast and some kind of cheese on them. Then I struggle to regain a functioning and useful consciousness.

I like to cook, but in a very simple way. I make eggs for breakfast, and if I am alone on a normal night I almost always cook quinoa with nutritional yeast and cheese, as well as some broccoli and some sort of fish. I am very interested in food and the art of food, but mostly as an observer, or as one playing the part of the audience. For me cooking is a means to an end, and not really an art form, so I have great respect and admiration for those who approach food with an artist's eye. We ate pretty simply growing up--we'd have your normal cereal like Cheerios or whatnot. They always kept it pretty healthy. No Cap'n Crunch except for a special treat. For dinner we'd eat chicken and rice and veggies. As we grew up we started to have an expanding food consciousness and explored almost every single type of food there is to explore. The food scene in Louisville now is unbelievably amazing. Some of my favorite restaurants in the world are here, such as Jack Fry's, the Mayan Cafe, and Nam-Nam.

There is so much great food on this Earth, and that is definitely one of the big perks of traveling as much as we do. We love Chez Panisse and other restaurants who are really making an effort to take things back to the land and work with local organic farmers. That is really special. My sister and her husband run a small organic farm outside of Louisville. You can taste the love and hard work in their food. I don't think I really realized the difference until I started eating their food.

[On tour], M. Ward and I found ourselves always sharing creme brulee, so we decided to blog about it. We are very slow bloggers, though--we need to do more! I like to write about anything that inspires me. It's fun to feel that surge of energy come up and just let your mind wander down the path.

But all of us are really into searching out great food, especially when the place has great people working there and a great energy, and is giving back to the farmers and community. Those kind of places really speak to us, and we want to come back over and over again and share in that special exchange of the essence of life coming directly from the food, and the food re-circulating that energy back from the souls consuming it, making a wonderful circle of love and laughter. 'Tis the spice of life!