MSM 90s: Even Flow, Mikey Ledbetter
9/10/26
By Monica Collier
Muscle Shoals Meets brings us together, friends. It’s so nice to spend time with like-minded people. Music is therapy. Right? Creating, performing, and listening to music is good for the soul. Right? I hold these truths to be self-evident, and I take them to heart, dear friends. Can I get an “Amen?”
Warning: There's a high probability this journal posting will be lousy with sentimental gushing. Yep. Brace yourselves for some melodrama, Muscle Shoals Meets friends.
Don’t judge me, OK? Give me some grace. After all, it’s time to talk about Pearl Jam, y’all. Not just that but we’re talking about the one and only Mikey (MFing) Ledbetter taking the stage and owning one of the early Pearl Jam classics that introduced most of us to this “seminal” 1990s band. “Ten” is still one of the best start-to-finish listens out there, friends.
I giggled as I looked back through my notes for this next to last performance of the MSM 90s first set at the Renaissance Shoals. I was fan-girling hard, y’all. Again, y’all … Pearl Jam and Mikey?! Be so for real right now. Mikey honoring Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam was super meaningful to me.
Seriously, Mikey giving us Pearl Jam's "Even Flow" that Saturday night in August during Muscle Shoals Meets the 90s gave me a much-needed shot of faith straight into my somewhat tired and jaded heart. It was such a powerful performance. I think both Mitch Mann and Scott Todd shared guitar-slinging duties on this one. There was this vibe in the air that just felt right. Mikey and the Fiddleworms were firing on all cylinders. You know what I mean?
I think one reason this performance hit me especially hard was because I had just seen Mikey perform Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” at the Lava Room earlier in the week. And wow, MSM friends, if you think Mikey did “Even Flow” justice, you should’ve seen him pour his heart and soul into “Jeremy.” I was destroyed. Both performances left me weak and yet completely invigorated all at the same time.
The thing is, Mikey doesn’t do covers. If you’ve ever witnessed him perform during Muscle Shoals Meets, you know exactly what I’m saying. Mikey embodies the essence of a song. If the song happens to already exist in the world with someone else singing its message, Mikey has this way of channeling that artist’s power and using it to fuel a new interpretation. It’s so funny, but with Mikey, it’s not even as if he makes a song his own. Mikey serves the song. Not just that, he serves the song in a way that is guided by the energy of a specific place and time. He’s never going to give us a song the same way twice.
So, not to get too angsty or morbid but I believe it's a literal miracle that Eddie Vedder still walks the earth. He's like a living, breathing, glorious anachronism. It makes me deeply sad to think about all the early 1990s alternative artists who never made it to middle age, y'all. Having Eddie with us now in 2026 fixes something sad and broken in me that's left over from 1994.
Pearl Jam is a band that's stalked me for 35 years. Pearl Jam has always been my friend's favorite band or my co-worker's favorite band. Pearl Jam fans are serious, y'all. Their fandom scares me a little. I've known people who use it as a literal divining rod to sort out who’s worthy of their time. “What? You don't like Pearl Jam?” No, I do. I promise. Truth is, I like Pearl Jam more and more with each passing year. If I’m being totally honest, friends, I kind of love Pearl Jam a lot. Like, a lot a lot.
You know what? I stand in awe of truly sincere artists. I stand in awe of real music lovers, too. While we’re at it, I’m just gonna say what needs to be said: I also stand in awe of my community-minded friends and neighbors. We’re a really good bunch of people, y’all.
Stay tuned. More to come.
Dig Worms.
Photo by Devona Hawkins
