My Morning Jacket Debuts ‘The Devil’s Peanut Butter’ In Brooklyn

Live music fans in Brooklyn last night who perhaps did not see Phish’s Trey Anastasio sit-in with Guerilla Toss at Brooklyn Bowl or Grizzly Bear bring out Beach House’s Victoria Legrand at Brooklyn Steel, might have caught My Morning Jacket’s show at Brooklyn Paramount celebrating the 20th anniversary of their album, Z.

MMJ followed a complete performance of the 2005 studio album with several additional songs, including the Z outtake “The Devil’s Peanut Butter.” Frontman Jim James explained the peculiarly titled song’s origins when the bonus track was shared ahead of the release of the expanded 20th anniversary edition of Z.

“I remember the melody of ‘The Devil’s Peanut Butter’ popping into my head as I strolled across the harbor bridge in Sydney, Australia, near the Opera House, staring down at the eerie grinning entrance face to Luna Park,” James recalled. “I worked on it some more while staying at Bondi Beach, walking amongst the graveyards and lawn bowling clubs that sit up high on the cliffs overlooking the beautiful coves of the Pacific Ocean. I have no idea why we called it ‘The Devil’s Peanut Butter,’ but our producer, John Leckie, absolutely did not like the title, and we laughed about it quite a bit. For some reason, it just didn’t seem to fit on Z, but we all loved it, then forgot about it for 20 YEARS, and now here it is back to life again!

The song was brought to life last night between “Half A Lifetime” and “Squid Ink,” both songs from My Morning Jacket’s 2025 album, is.

See the first live performance of “The Devil’s Peanut Butter” below: