Jim James is the coolest

Jim James played solo, acoustic at Newport. I thought it was so cool that he stayed at the fest all weekend--jumped on stage with M Ward, Calexico, and Son Volt and generally just wandered around catching music and some sun. Then, I saw him at the Amy Ray record release party at Housing Works this week. No entourage, no publicists, no press releases, just a great musician wanting to quietly enjoy music. You gotta love that and you gotta wonder why it’s so unusual.

Btw, the Jim James performance from Newport is on The Whole Wide World tonight and you can hear many of the Newport performances on demand at npr.org/music. My Morning Jacket hits the road next week and we’ll see them again in our town for the MSG show on New Year’s Eve.