Jim James Announces First Memoir One Wonders, Due April 13

My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James will publish his first memoir, One Wonders, on April 13 through Simon & Schuster. The book arrives in hardcover and ebook, plus an audiobook read by James himself.

So what's in it? According to the announcement, the memoir covers James's upbringing in Louisville, the pitfalls of working as a full-time musician, and his descent into and recovery from alcoholism and depression. That's a heavier inventory than most rock memoirs bother with. James, whose band has anchored American psychedelic rock since the late 1990s, frames the project as an act of breaking generational silence.

"If nothing else, I hope the main thing someone takes away from this book (aside from learning more about the joys and challenges of being a working artist and musician) is that it's okay to ask for help," James wrote in a statement. "Everyone is going through some sort of challenge in this crazy world. IT IS POSSIBLE to find your way out of darkness and despair, and begin to enjoy the subtle, beautiful, everyday victories of simply being alive."

Why write the book, and why now?

James answers the question himself, at length, in a letter accompanying the announcement. He credits roughly five or six years of therapy with prompting sustained reflection on "finding my voice — both as a singer, songwriter and musician, and as a person wandering the earth wondering... what do I really want to SAY with my life overall?"

He also invokes his elders, many of whom, he writes, followed a tradition of never speaking about themselves — carrying "victories and failures, your joys and horrors, quietly." A thought kept recurring: "wouldn't things be lighter for all of us if we shared more with other people?" James calls tearing down those walls "our generation's job."

He adds a slightly mystical note about the project's genesis, writing that the Universe "began to line up the things I needed to write this book, bring it to life, and ACTUALLY PUBLISH it." The stated purpose is concrete enough: illustrating his journey with mental health struggles might "help people take a step toward getting out of their own darkness and depression."

Fans who want a signed copy won't need to chase a tour stop. Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville will carry autographed copies, available for preorder now.

A busy stretch for James

The memoir isn't the only item on the calendar. In August, James premiered Wowed Out, his first solo album in eight years. He'll support it with a short run of dates before the end of the year, opening with a hometown show in November:

• Nov. 28 — Louisville, KY, Kentucky Performing Arts Brown Theatre
• Dec. 1 — Chicago, IL, The Vic Theatre (sold out)
• Dec. 3 — New York, NY, The Town Hall (sold out)
• Dec. 6 — Boston, MA, Wilbur Theatre
• Dec. 8 — Boulder, CO, Boulder Theater (sold out)
• Dec. 11 — Glendale, CA, Glendale Presbyterian Church

Three of the six dates are already gone. A church, a 1920s theatre and a Boulder stage — the venues suit a songwriter who has spent two decades trading in both noise and hush.

By April 13, readers will get the fuller arc: the Louisville kid, the working musician, the recovery. James has promised the triumphs and the horrors, told out loud — which, by his own account, is precisely the point.