Jim James Offers Marvin Gaye Tour Debut In Washington, D.C.: Full Show Audio

Jim James brought his solo tour to the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. While the My Morning Jacket frontman has stuck to a similar script from night to night James did dig into his bag of tricks offering up the tour debut of “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).”

James’ 24-song show got off the ground with “Of The Mother Again” from 2013 solo effort Regions of Light and Sound of God. From there he looked to “Changing World” one of the songs he penned from a set of lost Woody Guthrie lyrics for the collaborative New Multitudes project. Over the course of the evening, James would mix material from his solo catalog along with a selection MMJ tunes. Jim also worked in covers of Nina Simone’s “New World Coming” and Timmy Thomas’s “Rainbow Power.”

The biggest surprise came towards the end of the night as James offered up the tour debut of Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).” James previously played the track from What’s Going On twice, with performances coming last year. Jim debuted the tune during a solo show at Sweetwater Music Hall and then brought it his full-time band, who performed during their New Year’s run in Colorado. Listen to full show audio taped by Alex Leary below: