It's probably not accurate to say a band on its 30th anniversary tour and preparing to record its 13th album has had bum luck. But for those who've embraced the Old 97s' straightforward pop-rock, delivered with a touch of their native Texas twang, it's inexplicable that the quartet doesn't enjoy a bigger place in the modern rock pantheon.
There have certainly been moments along the decades when it seemed they were ready to break out from clubs and theaters into larger venues and a larger place in the public consciousness.
Five years after forming, they made the jump from alt-country-focused indie Bloodshot Records to the majors, Elektra, but the big-time label never really figured out what to do with them. An early Elektra single with a lot of buzz, "Murder (Or a Heart Attack)," was released the same week as the Columbine High School shooting, and radio stations instantly had no interest in playing a song with "murder" in the title. In the 2006 Vince Vaughn/Jennifer Aniston vehicle The Break-Up, the band appears on screen in a pivotal concert scene, but the movie's success didn't translate to band superstardom.
Lead singer/guitarist Rhett Miller doesn't have a trace of bitterness, though, while chatting about the band's jagged path to semi-fame. And he makes it clear he loves that he, bassist Murry Hammond, guitarist Ken Bethea and drummer Philip Peeples enjoy in being able to stick together for a musical lifetime.
"Once in a while we'll land on a moment when it seems like we're at the right place at the right time," Miller says. He posits that the band's appearance as an alien band in 2022's Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special might have helped introduce a lot of new fans to Old 97's, judging by the series of sold-out shows this tour in places they've never played before — including a sold-out stop at Lucky You on March 22.
Those with tickets — if you missed out, keep an eye on secondary markets — can expect a career-spanning set. The band recently prepared more than 80 different songs for a four-night hometown anniversary party in Dallas. While the band has pushed its sound beyond the country-forward songs of its earliest records into more of a hyper-literate classic-rock approach (a la the Hold Steady) as the members aged, early songs like "Timebomb" and "Big Brown Eyes" sit easily alongside tracks from their latest album, 2020's aptly named Twelfth.
Embarking on a 30th anniversary tour inevitably begs questions looking backward, although Miller is usually loath to hop in the wayback machine. "Even when I'm forced to do it, I almost never give in to talking about the old days, that nostalgia," Miller says.
Ever the Texas gentleman, despite his long ago relocation to New York's Hudson Valley, Miller abides inquiries about the early days of the band, when he was making music as an adolescent troubadour. And he still laughs at the fact the Dallas Observer dubbed him a "pretty boy teen folkie." His future bandmate Hammond produced Miller's early recordings, and some of Edie Brickell's New Bohemians worked on the sessions.
As so-called "alternative rock" blew up in the early '90s in the wake of Nirvana's success, Miller and Hammond decided to start a band and see if they could make a similar noise. At that time in Dallas, the Toadies were the band looking like future big-time rock stars.
"Everyone was starting bands to get signed [to a record label], like that was the be-all, end-all," Miller says. He and Hammond wrote some big, loud songs for a bit, but it didn't feel right.
"We quickly realized we were never going to be Nirvana," Miller says. "We were never going to be the Toadies, even. So we thought, 'Let's start a band that can play in coffee shops and bars, the music we're comfortable making.'"
A smart move, considering what's transpired in the 30 years since. Old 97's' run has been remarkably consistent and drama-free. They've had the same four-piece lineup since those early days in Dallas. They deliver a winning collection of new songs every couple years. Their live shows are barn-burners whether playing a 250-person bar or 2,500-person theater ("We're pretty good at scaling up and scaling down," Miller says). And they're always moving forward, trying to pen that perfect gem of Americana bliss.
5 Songs to Know by Old 97's
1. "Timebomb"
2. "Barrier Reef"
3. "Murder (Or a Heart Attack)"
4. "Question"
5. "Bottle Rocket Baby"
"The Old 97's as a band, and me as a person, has almost always had something going on," Miller says by way of explaining how the band has stayed together and worked peacefully all those years.
About 10 years into the band's career, Miller started putting out a series of excellent solo albums in between band records and tours. And while many groups would splinter after their lead singer went off on his own, Old 97's encouraged Miller's outside artistic pursuits.
"I try to run everything through the band," Miller says. "The Old 97's are my number one priority. They're kind enough to let me do solo records, and if they didn't I might resent that."
Miller's solo career parallels the band's in some ways. There were times when it seemed like a Miller solo work would launch him to a new level of popularity, but quirks of the music business kept that from happening despite the dreamy pop-rock he's delivered with albums like The Instigator and The Traveler. In one case, the label was putting out Miller's album the same time as Jason Mraz was coming out with his first album. "I thought, 'One of these is going to be a hit, and it's going to be the guy who raps and wears his hat sideways,'" Miller says. "That's not me."
Never one to let dashed expectations get him down, Miller forges ahead through a rich creative life based in his work with Old 97's, but also including writing children's books and hosting a podcast on creativity called Wheels Off, that's included enthralling conversations with authors, chefs, poets and, of course, musicians.
The podcast came alive in the early days of the pandemic, when Miller also was an early adopter of streaming shows, playing almost weekly showcases online. Financially, he did pretty well, and he loved the extra family time with his wife and children. But he's happy to be back to work with his Old 97's brothers.
"It's a little bit back to the grind, flying through snow, driving through snow, to get to gigs," Miller says. "But it beats having a job." ♦
Old 97's, Caitlin Rose • Thu, March 22 at 8 pm • Sold out • Lucky You Lounge • 1801 W. Sunset Blvd. • luckyyoulounge.com
