For more than a decade, the Old 97's have been the golden boys of (at different times) the Dallas, alt-country, and pop rocker scenes. From playing the parking lot behind Bar of Soap to major venues around the world, the band has ridden a career roller coaster and is still hanging in there.

Decidedly alt-country on their initial release and its followup, the Old 97's were generally mentioned alongside Wilco, Son Volt and Ryan Adams as standard-bearers of the No Depression movement. But with a major label behind them in the mid-to-late ninties, the 97's veered more heavily into hooky pop. Thanks to musical trends, erratic promotion and bad single quarterbacking on the part of the label, the band never "hit it big" as so many of their fans were sure they would.

While Rhett Miller took time off to release a well-received solo album (with another on the way), the band and its several side projects forge on, best known for their electrifying live shows, as captured on 2005's Alive and Wired.

From staff reports.

Musicians

• Rhett Miller: guitar, lead vocals, vocals
• Murry Hammond: bass, vocals
• Ken Bethea: guitar, vocals
• Philip Peeples: drums

Influences

X, The Pixies, Merle Haggard, Jon Langford, The Kinks, Elvis Costello, The Clash

Albums

Favorited by these users:

AmyLu, Angela Dildine, BRETT DILLON - KHYI, Beth_McCabe, Bop_A_Lena, Bugg, Camille Cortinas, Catherine Cuellar, ChaCha, Clintinspace, Colby Walton, Dan Gattuso, Del, Elizabeth Eshelman, Gary Cohen, Jake, Jeff Jones, Jennifer Mayes, John Connolly, John Murphy, Ken Turetzky, Kevin Kunreuther, Linda Rothstein, LuckyDenverMint, MFThomas, Mark Lewis, Megan Mead, Mike Orren, Pascale Hall, Peachykeen5, Phillip Wilkinson, RHYTHM_ROBB, Rebeckah Seagle, Rob Shearer, Robert Rummel-Hudson, Room203, SATIN_HOOKS, Sander Wolf, Seanchai520, Stuart Tinsley, Susan Lauer, TheMadcapLaughs, TheWishlist, bariglover, bruhnlaw, celestesal, charleston, chrism97, dheidle, doorbells, edfoo2000, elioz, flemingmeeks, foodiedfw, frank, frankthetank74, hayeser, holly ramsey, ibjoe, ihearttrouble, izzydroolin, jameshenry, jdwhitt, jesespires, jewely11115, jordan_r_munn, katy pritchard, kboy2k, kennybob7, kirklandk, krys, leighjay, mcgilligan913, mholmes76, mikalbeth, mjohns, moontalker, one_tribe, promoterray, robertmiguel, robstave, ryanbass, sapphire_916, secretsongs, smupostman2001, sorrysue, stars_smothered, tara7002, tate, treycarmichael, truckjrt, vsansone, whataboutdarby, whiterockcoffee, zekemartino

Something missing?

If you're a fan or member of this band, it's likely you know more about this than we do. Send us an email and tell us what we missed.

This is not MySpace! (And that's a good thing.) The only way you can directly post content to your page is in the comments. The best way to make additions, corrections, add mp3s or add photos is to send us an email.

---

---