At Dawn

At Dawn is the second studio album by American rock band My Morning Jacket. Produced by group frontman Jim James, the album was released on April 6, 2001 by Darla Records. The Kentucky-based group had begun several years prior when James needed an outlet for folky, acoustic songs. Its first album for independent label Darla, 1999's The Tennessee Fire, attracted a devoted following in the Netherlands, prompting the young band to tour heavily. At Dawn is a turning point for the band in its steps toward more ambitious song lengths and eclecticism in other genres. Like its predecessor, the group recorded the album at James' extended family's soybean farm in rural Kentucky. He recorded his vocals in an abandoned grain silo to take advantage of its natural reverb. Background My Morning Jacket was started by singer-songwriter Jim James in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. James created the project as an acoustic outlet for songs he felt were unsuitable for his main band, Month of Sundays. He recruited his cousin Johnny Quaid on guitar, Tom Blankenship on bass, and J. Glenn on drums, and the quartet signed to independent label Darla Records. Their debut album, The Tennessee Fire (1999), attracted a devoted following in the Netherlands, prompting the band to secure management and tour heavily. Like its predecessor, At Dawn was recorded at Quaid's rural family farm in Shelbyville, Kentucky, a city outside Louisville. The group converted an apartment above a three-car garage at the property into a home studio, which they called Above the Cadillac. James recorded his vocals in an abandoned grain silo, utilizing its natural reverb. He professed a love for atmospheric, "huge open sounds, such as vocals cut far away from the mic in a big room," specifically pointing to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street, or John Bonham's drum work on Led Zeppelin albums. James noted the group committed themselves to recording: "we locked ourselves in for many days with all the necessary elements–lights, candles, Madonna’s Immaculate Collection, Dreamcast and cookies." Years later, he looked back fondly at the process, highlighting his youth and inexperience: "We were just so green and just such infants, we didn't really know anything about professional recording or anything like that, but we recorded it all ourselves and recorded it all to tape and just had a really amazing time out there," he said.