Old 97's

Hammond and drummer Philip Peeples anchor these songs in Texas red clay, and guitar player Ken Bethea unleashes compact, eloquent riffs. He’s one of alt-country’s unsung guitar players, with a talent for mimicking vocal melodies and teasing them into solos.

— Washington Post
From the first frenetic chord of Miller's incredible rich and raucous songs, one finds that these guys flat-out rock…pioneers in songwriting flair, wit and energy.

— Riverfront Times
The genuine texas-brewed sweat that pours from their bodies would make even Jones and Strummer green.

— Austin Chronicle

Hometown:

Dallas, TX

Since the thrilling, almost-like-a-dream rocket launch time of their first record,they've been on stages that are bigger than the whole clubs they used to play in. We even saw them on the big screen as the band playing when that Grade A Lunkhead Vince Vaughn stood up the fetching Jennifer Aniston in The Break Up. (What in god's name was he thinking?--oh yeah, he's a lunkhead...)With so much water under the bridge, and so much time passed, it's not only easy to take what the 97's are doing for granted, but easy to forget how radical and riotous they were at the time. They perfected a template and have had no real relevant usurpers to their throne.

Artist Website

Compilation Tracks:

Limbeck cover the '97s "Sound of Running" on While No One Was Looking: Toasting 20 Years of Bloodshot Records
Video for "Over The Cliff" on the DVD Bloodied But Unbowed
"Dang Me" - Rhett Miller solo on the Pine Valley Cosmonauts' The Executioner's Last Songs: Volumes 2 & 3
"Por Favor" on Hell-Bent
"I'm Crying but My Tears are Far Away" w/ John Doe on Poor Little Knitter on the Road
"Making Love with You" on Down to the Promised Land: 5 Years of Bloodshot Records
"I'd Be Lonesome" (Robbie Fulks cover) on For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records

Recommended if You Like:

Uncle Tupelo

The Bottle Rockets

Ryan Adams

Waylon Jennings

Big Star

Whiskeytown

Avett Brothers

Felice Brothers

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