How are you reacting to the election?

I’ve been devastated, like most people that I know. It almost feels like somebody died, there’s that period of grief. It kind of comes in and out of your consciousness. I feel like most people were all talking like, “What do we do?” in a very concrete and literal way.

Obviously, there’s this “he’s not my president” [movement], which, I feel that way too — he’s definitely not my president. But at the same time, how do we move forward, because I also don’t want to hate anybody. I don’t want any fighting, I don’t want any violence; I have no hatred in my heart for Trump supporters.

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What are you most concerned about?

I feel like it’s across-the-board. I feel like climate change is probably the biggest one because if the Earth is destroyed we’re not going to have anywhere to even care about, and you can really see the reality of that because we just keep selling the planet away for oil drilling. We keep going down this dangerous slope that nobody really seems to want to act on. That’s the biggest thing, but also the f—ing health-care thing: Why is it so hard for us to take care of each other? The racism and the sexism, I just don’t understand it.

You wrote this dark, political record that seems even more resonant now. Will performing these songs be cathartic?

Definitely. You always hear things differently depending on what happened in your life. So our focus has been shifted and, obviously, I hoped it would be shifted in a good way. I was hoping we’d be going on this tour and be feeling positive, having the songs feel that way, but it is what it is, so they’re gonna feel different. I still try to put positivity into everything I do. There is a lot of darkness and there is a lot of questioning but I still try to maintain that I believe there is hope and I always will believe that. So yeah, I hope people can get together and enjoy feeling the music and have it be some source of comfort.

What do you feel like you can do, as a musician, to help make the world a better place?

Well, I think it’s not just me being a musician. I really think it’s all of us. I feel like we really can’t be silent anymore. I think a lot of us have had really great lives and we’ve been very fortunate and we’ve been able to coast through in a lot of ways and I feel like those days are done, especially if [Trump] takes office and they really start taking away people’s rights and freedoms. We can’t sit around and let that happen.

What led you down this path of being more direct, more political?

I just felt like there was nothing else I wanted to sing about; nothing else made sense anymore because this is so much more important. And I feel like I really also try to make it very clear that I’m trying not to preach and I’m not saying I know the answers better than anybody else.

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You’re already writing the next My Morning Jacket album. Does Trump change your direction?

Yeah, I think it does. I’ve got all these songs that are written already and some of them are political and some aren’t, so yeah, when we get in the studio in the spring, however we’re feeling and whatever’s happening in the world will definitely dictate what goes down.

What makes you hopeful for the future?

Well, I really do believe in humanity and I believe that the system is broken and the way that we do things is broken and at the end of the day there’s still hope that people can see the good in each other and find a way to love each other.

I think we just have to spread the word: You gotta get out and vote and you gotta stand up and speak up for people because we’ve got to stick up for each other. There’s no time to be silent and sit around and watch TV anymore.

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