B.I.O.G. News

June 4: Riverfront Times (St. Louis)
Some artists (BR5-49, the Derailers) retreat[ed] further into traditionalism, while others (like Wilco) did their best to distance themselves from the country sound altogether by moving in a more experimental direction. The members of the Old 97's did their fair share of soul-searching as well, exploring more straightforward rock and power-pop on 2001's exceptional Satellite Rides. But 2008's Blame It On Gravity is a homecoming for the band both sonically and geographically. [read more]

June: Exclaim (Canada)
Standouts include the Hammond/Miller co-write “My Two Feet,” a fun song with a Byrds vibe, the Cramps-inspired “Early Morning” and the garage rock anthem “The Easy Way.” With hints of the Ramones, the Kinks and the best of the outlaw country movement of the ’70s, this disc demonstrates, despite the band’s brief hibernation from the studio, that when these four hombres gather, the music they create is something special. [read more]

May-June: No Depression
At their best, the Old 97's spike right down through musical genre, through pop and country and rock, and hit the paydirt of the American myth. Their songs, from "Stoned" and "Victoria" through "Timebomb" and the most stunning cut on the new record, "Color Of A Lonely Heart Is Blue", are huge in songcraft and effect, the aural equivalent of the Dallas skyline against a massive red sky at dusk. In the right light, those buildings can look a little like colossal glass and steel guitars, and Bethea's work taps into the vista. [nodepression.net]

May 28: Houston Chronicle
Blame It on Gravity... has the strange quality of appealing to two constituencies that follow the band: those who favor the 97's' early countrified garage rock and those who prefer the band's more pop-oriented forays... Bethea jokes that Paste magazine's review of Gravity has been the best so far. "It was about the three luckiest (expletive) in the galaxy who get to play with Ken Bethea," he says. [read more]

May 27: Pro Rec
BIOG recording engineer, Rip Rowan, takes studio professionals for an inside look at the recording of "Ride." [read]
Also see Rip's behind-the-scenes photos of the Old 97's in the studio. [view]

May 15: Dallas Observer
"But there was grumbling," he adds. "Every new record that comes out, we've had to contend with grumbling." Miller's heard it all too, but says those murmurs haven't changed his thoughts on the direction of the band — something he says he's been thinking about lately as he continues to gauge the development of both the 97's and himself as an artist. "I'm sure there's musicians out there that say, 'I don't think about that stuff,'" he says. "But how can you not? You look at your life's work, and that's what it is: your life's work. This is it. I don't have a second career that I can fall back on." [read more]

May 13: Dallas Morning News
Most rock bands never last 15 months, let alone 15 years, but the Old 97's were quick to figure out there are more important things than gold records. "I get to create art for a living and go perform it, and that's an awesome, lucky, lucky thing," he says... Our job is to play, and that's the coolest thing." [read more]

May 1: American Way Magazine
The band is back in top form with its latest album, Blame It on Gravity. Produced by friend and longtime Texas associate Salim Nourallah, the record is a pitch-perfect collection of tracks featuring Miller’s lovelorn lyrics and Hammond’s heartbreaking harmonies, not to mention Bethea’s spiky riffs and Peeples’s dogged train beat. [read more]

April 1: Lone Star Music
Under Salim Nourallah's production, the music's so taut, it bounces like a trampoline – and jumps with the same sense of adventure. And the guitar work... well, Miller rightly says Bethea has hit a career peak; whether he's twangin' or rockin' – or both – it's nothing less than sterling throughout. [read more]

March 26: Billboard Magazine
The [album] features some more rough-and-tumble tracks reminiscent of the band's earlier records. "I'm so hyperbolic about this freaking record," Miller enthuses. "It's epic and beautiful." [read more]

March 4: Harp Magazine
The Old 97’s are finally set to release Blame It On Gravity, their seventh, on May 13th... it finds them "turning up the amps and returning to the satisfying crunch" that marked Rhett Miller & Co. in the early years. [read more]

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B.I.O.G. Reviews

June: Paste Magazine
Miller, wit firmly intact, contributes 11 of his smartass, lovelorn pop nuggets on this record, and bass player Murry Hammond piles on with a letter-perfect Buddy Holly tribute. The songwriting, as always, is top notch. But the band’s secret weapon has always been Ken Bethea’s Telecaster. He’s back in a big way, playing all the right notes and stomping all over them—moving from Pete Townshend power chords (“The Fool”) to Dick Dale surf workouts (“Dance With Me”) to Keith Richards swagger (“The Easy Way”). He nails it every time. [read more]

June: Country Standard Time
The disc captures the camaraderie and joy of the longtime friends and an energy that was not really lost on 2004's "Drag it Up," but not in abundance nearly as much as it is here. Chestnuts abound. [read more]

May 29: Rolling Stone
"Strum it on a Telecaster/Sing it like a train-disaster song," sings Miller. It's a perfect mission statement from four Texans raised on the Beatles and Johnny Cash in equal measures, whose shiny melodies, and fatalistic character studies, do their forefathers proud. [read more]

May 24: blogcritics.org
Gravity is a return to form for the band, with empathetic rock anthems waiting around every corner such as "The Fool," "Ride," and "I Will Remain." While country is the flavor, there's welcome and varied influences. The distorted fuzz-guitar of "Early Morning" sounds like Sonic Youth meets Merle Haggard, while "She Loves The Sunset" has an island-reverie swoon to it. "My Two Feet" is jangle-pop straight out of the Byrds/Beatles handbook. There's a confidence in their material that shows the hiatus has done them good. [read more]

May 22: Baltimore Sun
After five ever-stronger albums of twangy power-pop, the Old 97's ran out of steam on 2004's Drag It Up. But the Dallas quartet has returned to form. In Blame It on Gravity, the Old 97's are refocused and refreshed. Miller's lyrics teeter between earnest and impudent as he sings plaintively to a love interest on "She Loves the Sunset" and makes rash promises to God on "Here's to the Halcyon." Loud guitars and clever wordplay can work wonders for a band, and the Old 97's are better for having found their way back. [read more]

May 20: Aversion.com
The band's consistently fetching, with power-pop and alt-country collisions happening left, right and center on this album. The act's certainly comfortable delivering twangy alt-country ("The Beautiful Thing"), rocked-up moments ("She Loves the Sunset) and the occasional ballad ("Blame it On Gravity"). It's when everything comes together in a single track that we're reminded just why The Old 97's are still around ("The Fool" and "Dance with Me") -- mostly because nobody, repeat, nobody, knows how to balance small-town country simplicity with rock energy. [read more]

May 19: AMG (All Music Guide)
The Old 97's sound youthful and newly energized, having returned to Dallas and relocated that beloved crossroads between twangy country rock and tight, economic power pop. Blame It on Gravity is a homecoming of sorts, a revisit to the sonic sweet spot that made Too Far to Care the ideal pop album for people in cowboy boots, or the perfect country album for those who'd never heard of Lyle Lovett and Gram Parsons. (****1/2 stars and "Best New Release of the Past Three Months") [read more]

May 19: The New Yorker
“Blame It on Gravity” (New West), the band’s new album, represents a full resupply of its most attractive quality—its energy. “The Fool,” the album’s opener, charges out of the gate with Who-style power chords and a typically irresistible Miller lyric that touches on two of the record’s preoccupations, cars and girls [read more]

May 19: Billboard
Old 97's may have begun their days injecting their ragged, sandy alt-country with frenetic punk energy, but on this, their first record in four years, the focus is squarely on hooks, pop crunch and a sense of fun not always apparent in their recent records. "Blame It on Gravity" is a fevered, carbonated affair... [read more]

May 13: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Old 97's continues to be the closest alt-country has gotten to a Beatles. "The Easy Way" finds Miller and Murry Hammond raggedly harmonizing like Texas-style Lennon and McCartney, and songs such as "The One" and "Ride" overflow with exuberant melodies. "Gravity" roots this band to solid ground, but it soars anyway. [read more]

May 13: Slacker Country (via Pegasus News)
The high point of the record is the country blues stomp, “Early Morning.” It’s hands down the rockinest thing they’ve done since “Four Leaf Clover.” Just like he did on that one, Bethea throws down some Billy Zoom style crunch, complete with feedback laden twang and drummer Phillip Peeples pounds out a relentless driving beat. It’s great stuff. How well it holds up remains to be seen but I’d be willing to step out on a shaky limb and say it might just be their best record yet. [read more]

May 13: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Rhett Miller and the fellas are in fine form throughout; age has simultaneously sharpened and sweetened the Old 97's, making the band paradoxically seem like raw veterans. It's a fine balance, one that the 97's pull off beautifully. [read more]

May 13: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
After fifteen years of barroom rock & roll, the Old 97’s continue to occupy the intersection between dusty country-rock and pop. Blame it on Gravity is their seventh studio effort, and its mix of rock songs, ballads, and mid-tempo shufflers results in some of the quartet’s best work since Too Far To Care. Listen to the breezy “She Loves the Sunset” to hear Rhett Miller stretch his songwriting legs, or get your classic Old 97’s fix with the album’s full-tilt opening track. [read more]

May 13: Hartford Courant
The musicians are as tight and the songwriting as strong as on anything the group has released. Rollicking countrified rave-ups give way to surf-inspired riffs, with plenty of room for the occasional jangling ballad and a winsome love song or two. [read more]

May 12: Dallas Morning News
IF IT AIN'T BROKE: The Old 97's don't try as hard to reinvent themselves as their alt-country peers Ryan Adams and Wilco do. But their seventh disc, Gravity, is so effortless-sounding it holds up far better than recent CDs by Mr. Adams and Wilco.
A WEALTH OF RICHES: Producer Salim Nourallah steers them toward their proven strengths – the 24-karat power pop of "The Fool," the Brit Invasion rock of "My Two Feet" and the glorious punk-twang of "Here's to the Halcyon." They do throw a curveball or two – check out the Caribbean mind-bender "She Loves the Sunset." But the high points are the songs closest to the band's roots: Murry Hammond's "Color of a Lonely Heart is Blue" could pass for a long-lost Hank Williams ballad.
TURN UP THE GUITAR: Rhett Miller still commands center stage with a voice that's 40 percent romantic, 60 percent sardonic. But Ken Bethea constantly steals the spotlight with a serrated guitar that crosses Sun Studio with Headbangers Ball.
BOTTOM LINE: The Dallas band's first album in four years is one of their best. B+ [read more]

May 12: USA Today
Gravity is down-to-earth Old 97’s, the kind that earned the band a devoted cult more than a decade ago — punk thrash, country twang and pop tunefulness.*** [read more]

May 12: Vail Daily
Sharp-witted lyrics and rocking tunes make this a triumphant return to the scene for Old 97’s. **** [read more]

May 12: PopMatters.com
Indeed, Blame It on Gravity wastes no time in strutting its bravado, beginning with the one-two punch of “The Fool” and “Dance with Me”. The former begins with a fury of strumming and pounding, drops into a tight groove, then explodes with each chorus... “Dance with Me” elaborates on this theme; sounding like a cantina-surf rocker in a James Bond flick (yes, that’s a weird description, but listen to it), it seeps love and danger. [read more]

May 9: Now Magazine (Toronto)
They’ve had a remarkably successful career – at least critically – and their winning streak won’t end with their eighth record. The follow-up to 2004’s Drag It Up is a lively rock and roll affair, to say the least. The disc has plenty of amped-up, distortion-filled moments (Ride, The Easy Way), but the band throws in more than few twangy, laid-back tracks (She Loves The Sunset, The Beautiful Thing). Infectious tunes and, most important, variety, make this another great disc in the band’s solid career. **** [read more]

May 7: Velocity Weekly
The Old 97's get their groove back on a twangy rockfest that steers away from both slick gloss and the sound of four guys on four different stages. Nice to have the band back. [read more]

April: Texas Music
Blame It On Gravity delivers fun in spades, along with all the hooks and lyrical smarts that set this Dallas foursome apart... From start to finish, the album is stacked with jumpy, infectious energy, even as the lyrics grapple with the thorny topic of love lost, unrequited and just plain foolhardy. [read more]

March 25: USA Today
"My Two Feet" - Cult heroes are back with an exuberant alt-country wall of sound, from Blame It On Gravity, out May 13.

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B.I.O.G. Biography

Some bands blast out of the gate and never recapture their early energy. Other bands establish themselves as models of consistency. Still other bands take a while to find themselves. And then there are bands like the Old 97s, who blast out of the gate, establish themselves as models of consistency, take a while to find themselves, and then, fifteen years in, deliver a glorious record that sums up everything about them that fans have always loved. With Blame It On Gravity, the seventh Old 97's record and the second for New West, the band has made its definitive statement. "It's really exciting," says Rhett Miller, the band's lead singer and songwriter. "I read an interview with Randy Newman where he said that if your work is as good at 50 as it was at 20, you've won the battle. We're nowhere near fifty, but I feel like this collection of songs is the best we've ever done. And I LOVED our earlier albums."

From the opening notes of the first song, "The Fool," Blame It On Gravity is an archetypal Old 97's record, only more so. Back in 2004, the band released Drag It Up, which was filled with more personal and contemplative songs; the music adjusted accordingly. At other points throughout the band's career, it has tilted toward power pop (Fight Songs, from 1999) and the sounds of the British Invasion (Satellite Rides, from 2001). Blame It On Gravity finds the band turning up the amps and returning to the satisfying crunch of its early records. There are triumphant windmilling riffs, squalls of feedback, and upward spirals of guitar noise -- and that's just in "The Fool." "Bands go through a phase where they age, as people," Miller says. "During Drag It Up, all of us had gotten older and started families. That record was full of songs about mortality and aging. This record is more like a second childhood. More guitars, and they're loud."

Still, second childhoods are wiser than first childhoods and however loud it is, Blame It On Gravity reflects a renewed focus in Miller's songwriting. "Around the time of Drag It Up, I was definitely distracted, both by the natural ebb and flow of the band also by my solo career. When my second solo record, The Believer, came out, it ran into some problems, and I spent about a year licking my wounds. When I did decide to recommit to writing songs, it was with a different attitude. I found that I cared much more about making the songs perfect, and much less about what happens to them after they're written and recorded. I mean, it's always been out of my hands, but with the music industry the way it is now, it's SO out of my hands."

Songs like the chiming, wistful "My 2 Feet" and the jauntily miserable "I Will Remain" demonstrate that Miller's rededication has paid dividends. And the shimmering, beautifully sung "No Baby I" has more good writing in it than most careers--including the line that gives the record its title. Miller's trademarks as a songwriter are all still in place--his clever wordplay and gut-wrenching emotional honesty, for starters--but they're accompanied by a more mature (which isn't to say more complacent) worldview. Above all else, Miller isn't afraid to stare directly into the heart of the matter, even if it's breaking.

On "The Easy Way," which rollicks forward courtesy of one of the record's many indelible melodies, Miller sings, "The easy way gets harder all the time." That wasn't the case when it came time for the band to make Blame It On Gravity. In the past, recording sessions have taken place in Los Angeles, New Orleans or New York. This time, the four members of the band decided to make the record in Dallas, where the band started fifteen years ago. Blame It On Gravity came together during a three-month recording session that doubled as a homecoming. "We recorded it in Dallas, in the same Lower Greenville neighborhood where our band formed," Miller says. "Salim Nourallah's studio was a block away from the house that Murry Hammond, our bassist, and I rented after Murry talked me into giving up my scholarship at Sarah Lawrence to pursue the rock and roll dream-- much to my parents' chagrin." Two of the 97's, guitarist Ken Bethea and drummer Philip Peeples, still live in Dallas. But two have left for the coasts. Miller now makes his home in New York's Hudson Valley, and Hammond lives in Los Angeles. "It's funny, because he's the biggest Southern boy of any of us," Miller says. "But he fell in love with a woman named Grey DeLisle, who is a wonderful singer and voiceover artist. They have a one-year-old son named Tex. It's probably best that he's in California. You can't name a kid Tex if you live in Texas."

From the beginning, Nourallah felt that the record was a special case. "Going into this record, the band's back catalog loomed large in my mind," he says. "I wanted to make a record that their fans, and people who have been with them since the beginning, could really be excited about." Sometimes, this meant replicating the band's live sound; other times, it meant something entirely different. "There's a song called 'I Will Remain' on the record. It's a scruffy love song with a kind of Replacements feel. At first, we were trying to do a normal modern stereo mix, with the drums right up the middle, but there was something that wasn't working. I had a whim to try a Rubber Soul mix, where you throw the drums on one channel with the bass and separate the vocal and guitar. Within ten minutes of trying this, we were really excited. It was clear that this was the way to go."

The album ends with "The One," which is not another love song but rather a breakneck tour through the band's early days, when the idea of being paid (well) to do what you love seemed like highway robbery:

Throw the money in the van
It all worked out just like we planned
Now the good times have begun
That's not a fire it's just the sun It's like the old man said
Take the money and run
What's the rush?
Let's take The One

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B.I.O.G. Electronic Press Kit

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