There was a reason why the Old 97's were in a feisty mood at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points on Saturday night. After playing a show in Athens on Thursday, they had been scheduled to travel to Columbia, SC, the following day. But Hurricane Helene changed those plans. With the Columbia show canceled, the band was stuck in Atlanta with nothing to do.
Fortunately, even with a hurricane approaching, Atlanta isn’t the worst place to be stuck. The quartet from Dallas bided their time and then let it all fly in a 25-song set that leaned heavily on their older material while still finding time for a handful of cuts from their latest album, American Primitive.
The Old 97's have been doing this for a long time. American Primitive is the band’s 13th studio release in their 31 years together. The 31 years is laudatory in and of itself. What makes the Old 97’s so special is that the lineup did not change during all that time. The same four guys – frontman/guitarist Rhett Miller, bass player Murry Hammond, lead guitarist Ken Bethea, and drummer Philip Peeples – have barely even used supporting musicians on tour or in the studio. It’s just them.
The Old 97's put on another can't-miss show
They are as tight as you would expect with that kind of history. Bethea, Hammond, and Peeples are all first-rate musicians, and Miller, with his shaggy dog humor, goofy windmill-style rhythm guitar, and youthful energy, is just pure entertainer. It helps that either on his own or with the help of his bandmates, he also writes a lot of outstanding songs.
They opened Saturday’s show with one of their newest – “Falling Down” – from American Primitive. Though usually billed as an alt-country act, the Old 97’s have never gotten stuck in one genre. “Falling Down” could have been on a Soundgarden album from the ‘90s. Or maybe it’s a grungier Matchbox Twenty. However you hear it, it shows off the sense of drama that you find in most of Miller’s best songs. It was one of three cuts the band played from the new album.
Before the second one, the dark western pop number “Somebody,” Miller praised the latest album as being “f*****g great,” but also reassured the crowd, “we know the rules – we won’t play a ton of songs off it.” I suppose that kind of wisdom comes with experience.
About half the set came from their early albums, mostly released in the ‘90s, when they were seen as harbingers of the new alt-country explosion. The title "alt-country" has become too generic by now, and its forefathers like Wilco and Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt have moved well beyond those origins. But you can still hear where it came from in a song like “Doreen,” a western swing bullet train powered by Peeples' relentless drums and given proper twang by Miller’s vocals.
Though he is capable of writing evocative and beautiful songs, a lot of Miller’s ethos was summed up when he addressed the crowd of fans standing in the pit below the stage. While expressing his delight that so many younger fans seemed to like their music, he did note that “most of these songs are about grown-ups making very bad decisions.” Then he led the band through “Let's Get Drunk & Get It On.”
Later, Miller offered a get-out-of-jail free card to anyone who might not make it to church the following morning by playing “Jesus Love You,” an up-tempo rocker from 2017’s Graveyard Whistling with lyrics like “He’s got the whole world in his hands – I’ve got a Lone Star in cans.” That same album also provided another common man’s take on religion with the apocalyptic “Good With God” (written with Brandi Carlile), which thinks out loud, “All’s I know’s I’m good with God – I wonder how she feels about me.”
Bass player Hammond, who has been recording with Miller since before the Old 97’s officially formed back in the early ‘90s, peppered the set with three of his own songs, and his higher tenor and old-school garage pop sensibilities provided a nice contract on songs like “W TX Teardrops,” “Valentine,” and “Can’t Get a Line.”
Miller and his mates also hit most of their best-known songs which had the crowd down front dancing. “Rollerskate Skinny,” “Barrier Reef,” and the headbanging “Four Leaf Clover,” the drum-fueled juggernaut that closed out the main set of the show, are all first-rate rockers.
Miller returned alone for the first encore playing the gorgeous “Question” on his acoustic guitar and singing “Someday somebody’s gonna ask you – A question that you should say yes to – Once in your life.” See, it’s not all about drinking and screwing.
Then the band returned for the Old 97’s signature song – “Time Bomb” – an unstoppable punky rock explosion – the perfect way to release tension when a hurricane has canceled one of your recent shows.
Saturday night was the final show on the current tour in which the Old 97’s were supported by Kimmi Bitter, a fascinating throwback to Patsy Cline filtered through the Yardbirds. Bitter’s beautiful twang married surprisingly well with Willis Farnsworth’s show-stopping blues-rock guitar work. They are a classic country band by way of SoCal and offer fresh takes on classic country.
Kind of the way the Old 97’s have been doing for more than three decades.