ALBUM REVIEW: Old 97’s Live for the Moment on ‘American Primitive’

After 30 years, Old 97’s came in more unprepared than ever.

On their 13th album, American Primitive, the Dallas-born band holed up with producer Tucker Martine to celebrate three decades as a musical brotherhood with zero pre-production for the first time. Suddenly vocalist Rhett Miller, guitarist Ken Bethea, bassist Murry Hammond, and drummer Philip Peeples were prisoners to the present — a brilliant decision, it turns out, that captured the masterful instincts of the moment between expert players and Miller’s thoughtful wordsmithing.

The raucous results are both surprising and not. The band walks the same alt-country, barroom rock, and power-pop paths found on previous releases, and they do so with tight compositions that get in and out — sub-three-minute numbers that could flex, linger, or blossom if they wanted. Yet Old 97’s have always known that white space is as important as the design elements themselves, a veteran band willing to restrain its own work. The shock is that they sound as inspired as ever: Three decades in, they’re still very much alive and kicking.

From left, Old 97’s Ken Bethea, Murry Hammond, Rhett Miller, and Philip Peeples (photo by Jason Quigley)

American Primitive’s credits tell the story of its unique contents. The band documents its gratitude for the various contributors on the album while also paying homage to a host of literary influences that informed the album’s greater ideas and lyrical turns: the vivid poetry of Mary Oliver, the insightful philosophy of Simon Van Booy, the enduring legacy of novelist Stephen King. Old 97’s have long been a band that marries jaw-dropping lines with gut-punching riffs, and American Primitive is a perfect exhibit of that union.

Consider the muscular opening track, “Falling Down,” which burns with an intensity that would make Dave Grohl proud. “You’ve got to dance as if the world’s on fire around you / Because it is / And if you’re lucky enough that happiness has found you / You’d better get to dancin’ as your way of saying thank you, thank you.” As the veteran band flexes with a well-earned (and well-oiled) chemistry, Miller somehow distills an entire worldview in a few expert lines.

“Where the Road Goes” sounds something like an older Josh Rouse track and features Peter Buck’s jangly guitar in the mix. Miller’s earnest plea to hold out hope elevates the song to even greater heights as the album’s true centerpiece. “Oh you could have died that day … I’m so glad you decided to stick around … Look at all the beautiful things you found,” he sings.

“Chased the Setting Sun” is destined to be a fun live number, a quick song likely born in some Texas watering hole that chronicles a short journey westward. “Honeypie” is a sweet rootsy tune that shows the band’s brighter flourishes. Miller sings, “She likes it when I call her honeypie / She likes it when I call her pretty baby / But the one thing she don’t like is when I call her my old lady.” Given the literary weight or emotional gravity of some of American Primitive’s other songs, these tunes provide a well-timed lift to the sequence.

American Primitive by Old 97s is out April 5 on ATO Records.