Carl Broemel

Carl Broemel's association with My Morning Jacket has defined much of his public profile, yet he established himself as a versatile session guitarist in the early 2000s through appearances on releases by artists ranging from Delta Spirit to Bobby Bare, Jr. Proficiency on both six-string guitar and pedal steel allowed him to display strong technical ability and a natural grasp of roots rock, alt-country, and jam band elements. Outside of session dates and group projects, Broemel began issuing his own recordings with the stylistically broad All Birds Say in 2010, later pursuing more pop-leaning directions on 4th of July (2016) and Wished Out (2019), while Bloomin' (2023) emerged from a partnership with Futurebirds.

Raised in Indianapolis, Broemel enrolled at Indiana University to study classical guitar and joined the alt-country group Old Pike. The band supported Ben Folds Five in 1997, signed with Epic Records the next year, and was subsequently dropped after issuing Ten Thousand Nights in 1999, leading to the group's dissolution soon afterward.

Broemel relocated to Los Angeles and auditioned for My Morning Jacket following the departure of founding guitarist Johnny Quaid. He joined the lineup in 2004; several weeks of rehearsal preceded touring with the revised configuration that also incorporated Bo Koster. Broemel and Koster first appeared on a My Morning Jacket studio album the following year with the release of Z.

In 2010 Broemel joined ATO to launch his solo career with the twang-inflected All Birds Say, which included contributions from Koster. He continued with My Morning Jacket on Circuital (2011) and The Waterfall (2015) while also contributing to albums by John Fogerty, Neko Case, and Beck, before issuing his next solo effort, 4th of July, in 2016 on Thirty Tigers. Wished Out, his third solo album, was tracked at a home studio Broemel had built in Nashville, where he performed many of the instrumental parts; the album appeared in 2018.

Ray LaMontagne brought Broemel onstage for two concerts in Denver, Colorado, in 2019, where he played pedal steel and six-string guitar and supplied backing vocals. After several years without touring, My Morning Jacket performed four shows in 2019 and began writing new material, resulting in the release of My Morning Jacket in 2021. That same year Broemel teamed with Athens-based Futurebirds to record the four-song EP Bloomin'. He shared bills with the band on multiple dates in 2022, and the seven-song Bloomin' Too arrived later that year; the two EPs were later combined for the 11-song vinyl edition Bloomin' issued in 2023.