Biography

While he is widely known for his work with My Morning Jacket, singer/songwriter Carl Broemel became an in-demand guitarist during the early 2000s, appearing on albums by everyone from Delta Spirit to Bobby Bare, Jr. Skilled on both the traditional six-string guitar and the pedal steel, Broemel's work has revealed impressive technical skill and an inspired familiarity with roots rock, alt-country, and jam band influences. In addition to session work and collaborations, he also launched a solo career with 2010's eclectic alt-country LP All Birds Say, followed by slightly more pop-driven efforts like 4th of July (2016) and Wished Out (2019), while Bloomin' (2023) was a collaboration with kindred spirits Futurebirds. Broemel was raised in Indianapolis and later attended Indiana University, where he studied classical guitar and played with an alt-country band named Old Pike. The group opened for Ben Folds Five in 1997 and signed with Epic Records one year later, although they were dropped from the label’s roster after releasing their debut album, Ten Thousand Nights, in 1999. Old Pike broke up shortly afterward. Broemel moved to Los Angeles and eventually tried out for My Morning Jacket, whose founding guitarist Johnny Quaid had left the group. He officially joined the lineup in 2004, and the band rehearsed for several weeks before hitting the road with their revised lineup, which also included newcomer Bo Koster. Broemel and Koster made their studio debuts with My Morning Jacket one year later, when they released Z. In 2010 Broemel signed with ATO and made his debut as a solo artist with the twangy All Birds Say, which featured Koster as a collaborator. Resuming his primary gig, Broemel released another pair of LPs as part of My Morning Jacket (2011's Circuital and 2015's The Waterfall) and contributed to several other artists' albums, including works by John Fogerty, Neko Case, and Beck, before releasing his solo follow-up, 4th of July, in 2016, on Thirty Tigers. His third solo outing, Wished Out, was recorded at his newly constructed home studio in Nashville, and Broemel played many of the instruments himself. The album was released in 2018. In 2019, Ray LaMontagne invited Broemel to join him for a pair of concerts in Denver, Colorado, where he played pedal steel and six-string guitar, and performed backing vocals. After several years away from the stage, My Morning Jacket played four shows in 2019 and began writing material for an album, and Broemel and the band released My Morning Jacket in 2021. That same year, Broemel collaborated with his friends in the Athens-based band Futurebirds to record the four-song EP Bloomin'. Broemel shared the bill with Futurebirds for several live dates in 2022, and a second collaborative EP, the seven-song Bloomin' Too, arrived the same year. The two EPs were combined into the 11-song vinyl release Bloomin' issued in 2023. ~ Andrew Leahey & Mark Deming, Rovi