Rhett Miller's self-titled LP is being released internationally on ADA Global! It will be available digitally starting on October 19th, to coincide with his upcoming tour, and hard copies will go on sale on November 2nd.
Go pick it up!
Blog posts
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Nov 17, 08:34 AMBBC Review!When Miller sticks to what he’s good at, he is a marvel.
Andrew Mueller - http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/6wd3
One of the many reasons that The Old 97s are such a great band is that they’ve always sounded slightly like frontman and primary songwriter Rhett Miller joined the wrong group by accident. The Old 97s are, as a collective, fundamentally fairly orthodox cowpunkers, bent on filling classic country templates with angry guitars and juddering drums. Miller, on his own account, is clearly largely animated by a love for songwriterly pop. His three prior solo albums – erratic, unfocused affairs – have been infused by such distinctively un-country influences as Ray Davies, Pete Shelley and Paul Weller.
The audaciously titled Rhett Miller is the Rhett Miller album that sounds most like an Old 97s album – which makes it, by some margin, Rhett Miller’s best Rhett Miller album yet. He seems to have found a way to resist whatever pressures he felt to starkly delineate his own records from those of his band. It is telling that the only dud moment on the album – the wretchedly overwrought, Bauhaus-ish science fiction hallucination Happy Birthday Don’t Die – is also the only one in which Miller sounds like he’s trying too hard to be someone other than himself.
When Miller sticks to what he’s good at – setting witty, oblique tales of everyday bewilderment to deceptively subtle not-quite-country tunes – he is, as ever, a marvel. Caroline, If It’s Not Love and I Need to Know Where I Stand are adroit negotiations between Miller’s competing loves for country and pop, riddled with characteristically waspish couplets (the latter, in particular, can only prompt amazement that it has taken this long for someone to rhyme “analysis” with “paralysis”). The wilfully underplayed closing tracks, Lashes and Sometimes, are all the more affecting for Miller’s deliberate short-circuiting of his innate cleverness and playing it straight-faced.
Nothing, however, will gladden the bruised heart of anyone familiar with Miller’s songwriting like the triumphant opening line of tears-in-the-beer lament Another Girlfriend: “The trouble with girls like you…” It would have been a better title for a fine album.
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Rhett Miller now available in Europe:
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Netherlands -
Oct 09, 10:11 AMSelf-Titled album to be released internationally!Rhett Miller's self-titled LP is being released internationally on ADA Global! It will be available digitally starting on October 19th, to coincide with his upcoming tour, and hard copies will go on sale on November 2nd.
Go pick it up! -
Jul 28, 03:22 PMRhett on Good Day Atlanta and Relix Magazine ReviewRhett filmed a short interview on Good Day Atlanta today, followed by a performance of "I Need to Know Where I Stand". Good Day Atlanta
This song, as well as the others featured on his solo album, were praised in the July issue of Relix magazine for showcasing his "sensual voice" and "killer guitar work". Relix Magazine
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Jun 10, 02:45 PMRave Reviews for RhettIt’s only day two and already the rave reviews are flying in. Here’s what people are saying about Rhett Miller:
“… his strongest set yet…. Miller brings plenty of hooks. 4 stars” Rolling Stone Magazine
“his best solo effort yet” – Performing Songwriter Magazine
“If you haven’t checked out Miller before, it’s time.” MSNBC
“…there’s no shortage of catchiness and even a little cheekiness. 3 out of 4 stars.” People Magazine
“It's an ambitious album that finds Miller really stretching himself as a songwriter…” All Music Guide
“Rhett will not turn in his charm card anytime soon.” – Alternative Press Magazine
"On his fourth solo album, local musical hero Rhett Miller brings to mind a young Elvis Costello" - Dallas Morning News
“Now’s the time to put Rhett Miller on your radar.” Everhip.com -
Jun 03, 11:52 AMGet Free Music Hand-Picked By Rhett!Get a chance to win tickets to see Rhett Miller and Old 97’s when you sign up for Lala.com. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a custom playlist created by Rhett for free!
http://www.lala.com/landing?path=memberplaylist/29946P36465&fc=artist.rhettm
Don't forget to visit Rhett here:
RhettMiller.com
Myspace
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Jun 01, 10:31 AMVote for Rhett Miller!Vote for Rhett Miller on MAGNET Magazine's online poll (what album are you most looking forward too in June)!!!
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Jun 01, 10:05 AMThe Drop: Rhett MillerThe Drop: Rhett Miller
Wednesday, June 10, 2009; 8 pm
Be among the first to hear critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter and Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller discuss and perform selections from his new self-titled solo album, the day after its much anticipated release. Before an intimate audience of 200 in the Museum’s GRAMMY Sound Stage, hear Miller in conversation with Museum Executive Director Robert Santelli about the inspirations, songwriting, and production behind this deeper, more complicated project. After the interview, Miller will take questions from the audience and, for the first time, perform a few songs from the album. Doors open at 7:30pm. Tickets are $14.95; $12 for members. Tickets can be purchased in-person at the Museum Box Office, through Ticketmaster.com, or by calling 1.800.745.3000. Miller will be returning to Los Angeles for a full-concert performance with the Old 97’s at The Music Box @ Fonda on July 8, 2009. -
Mar 12, 02:40 PMHuge Rhett News!!
HUGE RHETT NEWS! RHETT TO RELEASE SELF-TITLED
SOLO ALBUM ON SHOUT! FACTORY RECORDS
IN STORES JUNE 9th - National Summer Tour To FollowHuge news! Rhett will be releasing a collection of new songs on June 9th, his fourth solo album and the first on Shout! Factory. The self-titled album will thrill fans with an up-close and personal journey through Rhett’s dark heart and complicated mind - all set to the kind of rollicking tunes for which he’s known. The album is the darkest of Rhett’s deep catalog of releases, and is a personal triumph both lyrically and sonically.
Rhett says:
My approach to songwriting has always been to take a heavy subject and put it to a bouncy tune. This record takes that trick to the next level. Don’t get me wrong, there are some rays of sunshine on the album, but there is a lot of deep night. The death of my grandmother, the suicide of my hero, David Foster Wallace. In my head, I was sort of in a dark place when I made this record. It’s still a fun record to listen to. It’s a fine line you gotta walk, right?Rhett penned all the songs on the record with the exception of “If It’s Not Love,” which was co-written with Matt Scannell. Rhett Miller was produced by Salim Nourallah, who also produced the latest critically acclaimed Old 97’s release, 2008’s Blame It On Gravity.
The exciting new 12-song set also features multi-instrumentalist and producer, Jon Brion on guitar and bass, The Apples In Stereo’s John Dufilho on drums and Billy Harvey on guitar. While speaking to Billboard Magazine about the album, Rhett stated “Every musician I hired was a producer. All these people could have easily produced this record themselves.” While the album was initially planned as a stripped-down, acoustic record, with the help of his stellar backing band, it quickly turned into one of huge sonic scope.
Of the album’s most rocking track, Rhett says:
"Happy Birthday Don’t Die” came to me in a fevered rush the morning before I headed to Texas to make the record. The whole story was there in my head when I woke up. This weird sci-fi portrait of a little old lady buried in the catacombs of some colony planet celebrating her one-hundredth birthday by dying. Writing that song was like speaking in tongues, very strange. Not all the songs on the album are so far-flung, "Sometimes" came out of hearing my two-year-old daughter singing to herself in her crib one morning. I took her little tune and fleshed it out into first a chorus and then a whole song.Elsewhere on the album, one finds the quirky details that are a hallmark of Rhett’s songwriting. The “comedy club” in “I Need To Know Where I Stand” sounds suspiciously similar to LA’s famed Café Largo where Rhett has played regularly over the years. In the same song, we find “the Hamlet of Wallkill,” a town in the Hudson Valley near where the song’s author resides. But it’s the simple statements of grand truths that set this album apart from Rhett’s earlier work. Take, for instance, the following line from “Like Love.” “We are all alone in this world/from cradle to grave/and maybe after that.” A bitter little sentiment, but dropped into the middle of a fun, foot-stomper of a song, it’s a testament to the years Rhett has spent honing his craft.
For those who don't know Rhett as well, while maintaining his career with the Old 97’s, Austin-born Rhett has also released three previous solo albums, Mythologies, recorded during his junior year in high school and produced by future Old 97’s co-founder, Murry Hammond, in 1989, 2002’s The Instigator, and The Believer in 2006.
While based in Dallas, Rhett and Murry formed Old 97’s in 1993. With their effortless combination of rock, power-pop and country, the band quickly became one of the most acclaimed and beloved bands to spring from the 90s indie rock scene. They have released seven powerhouse studio albums to date.
Well-known as an explosive live act both solo and with the band, Rhett and the Old 97’s will be on tour throughout the summer and fall. Many of these shows will be billed as “An Evening With…,” and will feature an opening solo set by Rhett during which he will perform songs from the new album and favorites from his solo catalog.
Rhett Miller Track Listing:
1. Noboby Says I Love You Anymore
2. Like Love
3. Caroline
4. I Need to Know Where I Stand
5. Happy Birthday Don’t Die
6. Bonfire
7. Haphazardly
8. If It’s Not Love
9. Another Girlfriend
10. Refusing Temptation
11. Lashes
12. Sometimes
Upcoming Rhett Miller live performances - many more TBA:
March 24th - Solana Beach, CA Belly Up
March 26th - Los Angeles, CA Largo
March 27th - Redondo Beach, CA Brixton South Bay
March 28th - Santa Cruz, CA Crepe Place
March 29th - San Francisco, CA Yoshi’s
April 11th - Ithaca, NY Castaways
April 16th - New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge
May 1st - Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theatre - Writers in the Raw w/ David Johansen of the New York Dolls, Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and others.
May 13th - Northampton, MA Iron Horse May 14th - Boston, MA The Paradise
