Rhett Miller will perform at The Outpost in the Burbs in Montclair, April 25.
Formed nearly a quarter of a century ago in Texas, the band Old 97’s has occupied a revered place in the Americana music scene. The band was among a wave of musicians that initially was dubbed cowpunk and twangcore and, later, alt.country as they created a gritty alternative to slicker country sounds.
“What if Waylon Jennings had gone punk or The Clash went country?” That’s how Rosanne Cash described Old 97’s when she explained why the band was chosen for a lifetime achievement award last year by The Americana Music Association.
The band’s lead singer and chief songwriter Rhett Miller, 55, is known for telling a good story and turns out melodies that can stick to your ribs. Like many effective frontmen, he is energetic but has a down-to-earth charisma that bonds him to audiences. He is also thoughtful and articulate. He has been candid about being bullied as a teen and proud to be sober for the past decade.
Most of all, he is determinedly creative. He has written lengthy articles for magazines; authored two children’s books; is at work on a television series; and teaches songwriting at The New School in Manhattan. And he has released 10 solo albums, including last year’s A Lifetime of Riding by Night, a ruminative effort from someone who is clearly reckoning with how life on the road — and, in general — has changed him.
He will stop by The Outpost in the Burbs at First Congregational Church in Montclair, April 25 at 8 p.m., for a solo performance, with Buga opening. For tickets, visit outpostintheburbs.org.
The cover of Rhett Miller’s 2025 album, “A Lifetime of Riding by Night.”
Q: So you’re from Texas and I’ve heard a lot of twang in your music over the years, especially with the band, but I’ve read people like David Bowie and Joan Jett inspired you. What were your earliest influences?
A: I’m a seventh-generation Texan. When I was a kid, I very much rejected the things that were about Dallas, specifically. The things I found offensive — the business-obsessed culture, the rat race, the wealth and entitlement. I found my people mostly in the library, reading books. And when I discovered music, so much of it was British music, but also ’80s alternative rock … So yes, there was Bowie, Joan Jett, but all kinds of things like The Beatles. Who doesn’t like them?
But I wound up falling in love with bands like Aztec Camera. Their music was melodic with an emphasis on poetic lyrics. The furthest thing from my mind was the redneck, anti-literate culture. But over time, I realized you could throw the baby out with bathwater … Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and Buddy Holly were the rare Texans who spoke to me when I was young. So I went back and discovered all the music I’d written off.
The early country music was really simple and beautiful. That’s how I wound up doing the specific things I’m doing now which is alt.country or Americana or roots or whatever you want to call it. But I did come back from across the pond to appreciate it.
Old 97’s (from left, Ken Bethea, Rhett Miller, Philip Peeples, Murry Hammond)
Q: You write a lot of material but have said you give the other guys in the band the first right of refusal for choosing songs to record. I’m wondering about the extent to which you’re then able to carve out your own persona if you think many of the songs are suitable for the band in the first place.
A: I usually look at piles of songs left over after the band sifted through them and I look at the remainders and try to picture what kind of (solo) record I’d like to make that’s fun to make and will speak to me, artistically, and why I would need to make a solo record … But each record takes a different approach … I might use a synthesizer and a drum machine, which would be very experimental. That’s obvious.
My most recent album is very restrained and thoughtful and kind of sad and a kind of quiet record. The Old 97’s are not in the business of making music like that. We still make louder, more punkish songs …
For the next (Old 97’s) record coming out next year, I brought 40 songs to them. Murry (Hammond, the band’s other co-founder, guitarist and songwriter) and I chose 20 and then the band narrowed that to 12 and we’ll probably issue a record with 10 … I could’ve made old-school country music with a straightforward pedal steel or folky Americana songwriting — a sitting-on-a-stool kind of record. But it’s coming together pretty strongly as a power-pop kind of Cheap Trick record and it’s hilarious and makes me wonder what I’ll do for my next solo record.
The last solo record I made was somber and quiet. So for the next record (with the band), I needed to make fun songs. That’s one distinction … To my way of thinking, there’s the role of the artist and the entertainer, but I always come down on the side of entertainment, and I don’t think it’s a dirty word. It doesn’t have to exist independent of artistry.
RHETT MILLER
People make an effort to go out and see a show and an important part of bringing people together in a room is to celebrate songs and music. And I wanted to make a record that felt like fun, rather than something somber. I feel the new record is going to do that. But of course, I play Old 97’s songs during my (solo) tour.
I really wonder if my solo career in the future, though, will be releasing singles between Old 97’s records. I really believe in instinct and intuition in every step of the process. I write songs using a stream of consciousness approach and when we make records, I do sort of the same thing and see what it wants to be and just leaning in. It’s all a long way around to say there’s no great scheme behind it all. I’m trying to feel it out as I go.
Q: You’re still teaching. What do you tell them about the process and the prospects?
A: (Our band) was very lucky to come of age during a time when there was a healthy entertainment and recorded music industry. We’ve benefited from millions of dollars from Elektra Records in marketing money. I don’t take for granted that our time was really fortunate.
And now I’m teaching 19-to-21-year-old kids who have dreams of writing songs … but we’ve all been subjugated to digital overloads every day. We’re so chained to technology and everything becomes cheapened by it. Music is definitely cheapened by it. But here we are still believing in songs. But there’s no way to making a living from it except schlepping around and leaving your family. It’s a hand-to-mouth existence.
I’m not complaining. We’re trying to build a world that isn’t generated by a computer. That’s not ever going to go away. But there are people who make music and we’ll find a way to get through this dark forest we’re in right now.
The cover of Rhett Miller’s 2022 album, “The Misfit.”
Q: You have a notable perch, fronting this band all these years. Do you think this is a moment to use your platform to venture into political or topical songs?
A: I think about it a lot. What obligations do I have to express my own concerns and outrage in my music? Because of my aforementioned approach to music — stream of consciousness — I’m almost never sitting down with an idea to say in a song. Usually, I watch it evolve in real time. It is such a harrowing time right now and I’ve felt it creep into my music.
A song on the album we’re recording now is the closest I’ve ever come to social commentary. The way it came out was almost hilarious. I almost had to give myself permission in the song and I created a narrator. He’s claustrophobic, living in his apartment and spouting a lot of vitriol at the government. It’s about stuff that I believe — there should not be billionaires. The things we’re all wrestling with now in real time if we’re socially conscious people. But for me to put it in the song, I had to create a person with real mental health issues and wearing a mask … I’ve just never been comfortable doing that overtly or felt I was good at it. Over the years, we’ve done work for causes and candidates we believe in. It’s just, in the context of songs I’ve never felt entirely comfortable (doing that).
Q: You’ve described how you blew out your voice on tour a couple of years ago and needed surgery. You had a polyp on one vocal cord and a cyst on the other. What’s it been like coming back from that?
A: It’s so much fun getting to sing right now. For years, I was struggling to hit any notes in the falsetto range or my lower register. Now they’re all there and it’s been great to sing anything that pops into my head. There was a chance I’d never be able to sing at all.
Q: You joked around, after getting the lifetime achievement award, that it wasn’t conditional, that the ‘lifetime’ wasn’t over. So where do you go from here?
A: My wife likes to ask me what my plans are for retirement. Music is all I’ve really wanted to do, so I would retire so I can drive around and play guitar? It’s already my job. It’s something I love and want to do for the rest of my life. So I might as well keep recording and releasing songs. As for performing for people: It’s such a gift. But I’m trying to make it less brutal in terms of logistics and fatigue. I don’t know what other people do, but I can’t imagine a life where I’m not writing or singing.
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