The 12-track album is the first full-band studio release featuring both founding members Gary Louris and Mark Olson since 1995's Tomorrow the Green Grass.

In addition to co-writing all the songs with Olson, Louris also produced the record. Mockingbird Time was recorded in Minneapolis at The Terrarium Recording Studios over a month's time during the winter of 2010. Other original band members featured on the record include Karen Grotberg (keyboards, vocals), Tim O'Reagan (drums, vocals) and Marc Perlman (bass). Of returning to the studio as The Jayhawks, Louris notes, "The difference from then and now is that Mark and I have both experienced different kinds of music and expanded our palates. So this record has moments of experimentation and a bit of worldliness. I like a well-crafted, in-and-out kind of song, but with Mark, the lyrics dictate the music, and he'll go off into interesting, asymmetrical compositions. So it's a nice balance. Certain things were meant to be—like peanut butter and jelly—and Mark and I just work well together. And having done a lot of co-writing during the last six or seven years, I'm more appreciative of the magic that we have together. That doesn't come along very often for anybody."

The new release comes on the heels of several pivotal and reinvigorating years for the band, whose first career-spanning anthology Music From The North Country was released in 2009 by American/Legacy. Additionally, in August 2010, for the first time on CD, the self-titled debut album from the band (often referred to by fans as The Bunkhouse album) was reissued by Lost Highway Records. Moreover, in January 2011 the band's first two albums for American Recordings—Hollywood Town Hall (1992) and Tomorrow The Green Grass (1995)—were re-released with a wealth of rare bonus tracks. In conjunction with these reissues the original Jayhawks line-up shared the stage for the first time in 15+ years in January 2011, performing special shows in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Toronto. Of the band's performance as a reunited quintet, the Chicago Tribune heralded, "During a soaring two-hour set, the Jayhawks put on a clinic in the art of blended melodies and balanced songwriting. As always, Olson and fellow guitarist/singer Gary Louris' impeccable vocal harmonies held sway."