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...the new Blame It On Gravity delivers fun in spades, along with all the hooks and lyrical smarts that set this Dallas foursome apart from the middling alt-country crowd even before there was much of an alt-country crowd to speak of.
04/12/08
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Everyone's (or certainly my) favorite country/rock band from Dallas, The Old 97's, are back with a new album due out May 13th! I heard the news and got out my Alive and Wired cd (Disc Two is the best, in my opinion) and sang along in the car this past weekend. Before the new album, entitled Blame It On Gravity, hits the shelves, however, bespectacled bassist Murry Hammond's solo album I Don’t Know Where I’m Going But I’m On My Way will be available April 21st.
04/11/08
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The party of the day on Thursday was –as tends to be the case– the mighty New West soiree at Club DeVille. This was certainly the place to be for the Twangville crew, as all four of our intrepid correspondents posted this invitation-only affair. After all, with a bill featuring likes of the Drams, Old 97’s, Buddy Miller, and Tim Easton, how could we not, right?
04/11/08
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For a guy who rocks out with what seems like such reckless abandon, Rhett Miller, Old 97's' lead singer and songwriter, really sounds more like a mild intellectual than a Dallas native with a wild streak, a Replacements-rooted musical sensibility and a love for Texas twang, British beats, fuzzed-out punk and power pop.
04/03/08
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There seems to be a pattern afoot with Old 97's. Every time the group makes a new album, it is quickly followed by a solo set from frontman Rhett Miller.
And the pattern seems likely to continue this year, as Old 97's' "Blame It on Gravity" will arrive May 13 via New West, and Miller is mulling another solo album.
03/27/08
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The 97's, to whom songful perfection came slowly, hadn't made a new record in three years; the Truckers are road warriors living that modest dream of so many working-class Southerners: earning a living while drinking on the job.
09/08/04
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The Old 97’s are used to having fun. If you’re a fan of the band, then you’re probably used to seeing lead singer Rhett Miller flash his boyish grin, always having a grand time behind the microphone. Always living life at a fast and furious pace, the Old 97’s were bound to hit a speed bump...
09/08/04
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It was the kind of sudden, vicious act that irreparably changes a venue. On July 25, the Old 97’s were playing the Gypsy Tea Room in Deep Ellum — a once-rundown, now-gentrified Dallas district — when, during the final song of the final encore...
09/08/04
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After several years apart on hiatus, the good news is that the band is back. With Drag It Up, their sixth studio album, the Texas-based foursome has returned to their alt-country roots in a big way.
09/01/04
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Old 97s were the best band to come out of the barely noticed, early '90s alt-country explosion. "Alt-country", did I say? It's true that the term has fallen out of favor, with almost all of its original exponents disowning it and fans preferring to use broader labels like...
08/13/04
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The beauty of the Old 97s is the way the Dallas band covers so much ground, banging out a punk-flavored song followed by a nod to the British Invasion or a legitimate country weeper...
08/10/04
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It's been a long three years since the Old 97's last captured the public's attention with "Satellite Rides," a near-flawless collection of streamlined alt-country gems that showed just how marketable a group whose stated mission was to fuse Elvis Costello with Hank Williams could be...
08/05/04
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On Sunday, July 25, a 44-year-old father took his two teenage daughters to an Old 97's show at the Gypsy Tea Room. He left on a stretcher and may not walk again...
08/05/04
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While none of the Old 97s' subsequent releases has ever been as impressive as the high-octane surge that was 1997's Too Far To Care, the twangy Texas quartet returns after a three-year hiatus with a record that just might come close...
08/01/04
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A band with an identity crisis isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially when the crisis is more with the band's fans than with the band itself. The Old 97's are a fine example of a group that has thrived with its dual nature intact, satisfying two audiences along the way...
07/28/04
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