My Morning Straitjacket

It aired on Fox in the United States on November 22, 2009, and is written by Mike Barker and directed by Chris Bennett.

[1] In the episode, when Stan crashes a My Morning Jacket concert to drag Hayley out of it, he decides that he likes the band so much that he becomes a groupie and follows them on the road.

Disguised as a reporter for Rolling Stone (an allusion to the film Almost Famous), Stan follows My Morning Jacket on tour, accompanied by Roger.

In a November 2009 interview the episode's writer Mike Barker spoke about how an experience at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival inspired the episode, saying: "At Bonnaroo, I’m watching these guys create this lush, intense sound as the rain is washing over them… and as the sheet of rain attacks the stage, the raindrops are being illuminated by the multi-colored stage lights, and it was just… biblical.

And I actually remember having the thought, “If lightning strikes these guys dead, there’s not a thing tragic about that.” Seriously, can you tell me a better way for a musician to go?

Is it possible to translate how much I love this music to a large portion of American Dad’s audience that presently has no idea that this band even exists?” That would be my way of giving back, I suppose.

The last thing I want is for my episode — which is really a pretty personal creative experiment — is for it to somehow reflect negatively back on the band.

This is a story I wanted to tell, and basically they took a big leap of faith by entrusting me, this absolute stranger, with their music, their voices, and ultimately, their image.

Because if it’s bad, or embarrassing, then that leads to questions from the fans like “Why would MMJ do this?” and suddenly this incredibly thoughtful and principled band is on the firing line for selling out or something.

[4] The songs featured in the episode are "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2", "I'm Amazed", "Remnants", and "Highly Suspicious" from the album Evil Urges, and "Phone Went West" from At Dawn.