My Morning Jacket Set for April 12 at Toyota Music Factory

April 12 will be one big holiday for North Texas. My Morning Jacket announced a run of 15 tour dates this spring, including a stop at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory featuring Australian singer Grace Cummings as the opener.

The tour coincides with the band’s upcoming album, is, slated for release on March 21. We expect some songs from that record will be played live, but the band notoriously changes the setlist each night of the tour.

It’s that sort of predictably unpredictable spontaneity that’s earned My Morning Jacket a dedicated cult following.

Their last stop in North Texas was in 2022, when the band played before a packed house at the Factory in Deep Ellum. Lead singer and songwriter Jim James only spoke to the crowd once during the concert’s more than 2 hour runtime, to say “Thank you,” before the final song of the night began.

James’ persona and the music he writes share a sort of ambiguity that has to be intentional. “One Big Holiday” and “Off The Record” are unquestionable rockers, but “Only Memories Remain” and "Slow Slow Tune" are reminiscent of a soft, early '60s sound. Dare we invoke the name of Roy Orbison?

On “Compound Fracture” the band reaches for a sort of psychedelic disco we’d expect if Chic spent a year in the desert. “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream” sounds like if a desert spent a year inside Chic.

At times, My Morning Jacket has even been labeled as a modern day jam band, and we can’t disagree. They do jam, every show, even if the jamming in question gives them secondary association with Phish.

These days, there’s a hyperfocus placed on genre in all kinds of art. Spotify can cherrypick songs that perfectly match the songs you’re already listening to based on algorithms we’ll never understand. Netflix now includes categories as specific as zombie horror movies, foreign gay & lesbian TV shows or screwball comedies. Everything is a different kind of niche.

All this is to say, for My Morning Jacket to be as successful as their sound is undefinable is an accomplishment. We have no idea what kind of show to expect on April 12 other than a great one.

Presale access is available through the My Morning Jacket fan club, One Big Family.