Old 97s
Drag It Up (New West)The Old 97s don’t care what you say, they’re getting out of this town. On Drag It Up, they’ve booked a one-way ticket out of numerous locales, including Marble Falls, Denton, Bloomington, and Adelaide. This attitude breezes through the Dallas-based band’s sixth album, their first since changing labels and weathering side projects. If the band is getting on that Greyhound bus, Drag It Up is the sound of them doing it together. Rollicking kick-starts like “Won’t Be Home” identify the band with their tight-knit, honky-tonk colors, a sound too big and bold for any one-horse town. All the while, Rhett Miller’s plaintive vocals sell you on the sincerity of his damaged goods. “There was a girl back in my town, but I shouldn’t bring up what I can’t put down,” he confesses on “Moonlight.” His delivery is so earnest, you’d never guess Miller was actually married with a newborn. Punk-infused “The New Kid” and “Friends Forever” will appease new fans, but then so will the album’s lesser songs (“Coahuila” and “Smokers”), which feel like mediocre leftovers. The tunes that will become Old 97s classics are the tender “In the Satellite Rides a Star” and “No Mother,” a tribute to Austin’s late “Handsome” Joel Svatek. The latter is a beautiful hymn and a touching memorial, proving that no matter what big cities the Old 97s now call home, they’ll always remember where they came from. (The Old 97s play Stubb’s Friday, July 23.)
This article appears in July 23 • 2004.