TEXT & PHOTOS BY ANDY TENNILLE

At first blush, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and My Morning Jacket might seem like strange bedfellows.

One is a genre-defying rock quintet who claim Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem and Prince as influences; the other is a New Orleans Dixieland institution whose history dates back to the early 1960s.

Yet as different as they appear on the surface, both groups possess unique musical personalities that more often than not lead to universally lauded live performances, which is how the pair first met last spring when MMJ frontman Jim James sat in with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at its legendary French Quarter venue. James ultimately recorded two songs - "St. James Infirmary" and "Louisiana Fairytale" - that would appear on Preservation, a star-studded tribute record released earlier this year that benefits Preservation Hall and its associated educational programs.

"I couldn't have imagined Jim fitting in any better with the guys at Preservation Hall," Preservation Hall creative director Ben Jaffe said about the 2009 concert. "Jim's like our long lost cousin coming home for the first time."

The familial vibe was evident right from the outset last Friday night at the Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary, NC, the seventh show of a nine-date spring tour of the Southeastern U.S. James emerged halfway into PHJB's opening set to sing on both "St. James Infirmary" and "Louisiana Fairytale" before the Jazz Band ended their show with a Mardi Gras-style parade through the amphitheatre audience.

Just as the sun dipped below the trees surrounding the venue, the lights dimmed and My Morning Jacket took the stage to rapturous applause. Beginning with "Tonight I Want to Celebrate With You," the band logged nearly three hours onstage playing selections from throughout their catalog, including an epic take on "At Dawn," a rock-solid "Steam Engine" and "Carried Away," a tune sung by guitarist Carl Broemel that dates back to at least 2007. For the encore, MMJ brought out the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to sit in on a horn-laden "Dancefloors" before paying homage to PHJB's home with a cover of Al Johnson's NOLA classic "Carnival Time". A funky version of Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" replete with the Preservation horns was the ideal cap to an amazing night of music featuring two groups that perfectly complemented each other.

 Setlist:

Tonight I Want to Celebrate With You

At Dawn

Gideon

Off the Record

What A Wonderful Man

I'm Amazed

Mahgeeetah

Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.1

Golden

Steam Engine

Lay Low

The Way That He Sings

Wonderful (The Way I Feel)

Carried Away

Dondante

Smokin From Shootin

Run Thru

Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.2

One Big Holiday

(encore) Wordless Chorus

Dancefloors*

Highly Suspicious*

Carnival Time*

Move On Up*

* w/ Preservation Hall Jazz Band