Old 97's
By Bill Kopp
With their winning combination of rock energy and Texas twang, Dallas-based Old 97’s have carved out a unique place for themselves on the music landscape. Across a dozen albums, their evocative songwriting and high energy musical approach has won the group both critical acclaim and a dedicated following. But the band hasn’t quite reached the commercial success that critics and ardent fans alike agree are so richly deserved.
Part of the problem might be that Old 97’s don’t fit neatly into one stylistic category. So it’s something of a challenge for their label to promote them. Are they country? Alt-country, or power pop? Rock? Something else? Lead guitarist Ken Bethea acknowledges that there’s no neat, one-word label that offers a shorthand description for what Old 97’s does.
Let’s address power pop. To some, the term refers to the rock subgenre exemplified by bands like Badfinger, The Raspberries, The Knack...groups that made uptempo, Beatles-influenced rock with sharp hooks and concise melodies. But it’s that word pop that rankles Bethea.
“To me,” he explains, “pop is a kind of music where there’s a producer and a separate songwriter. They write a song, and the singer or band comes in and sings it. And that doesn’t even begin to describe us.” By that understanding of the term, he’s right. From the very start, Old 97’s have chasrted their own path, written their own songs and played their own instruments.
Bethea acknowledges that other labels like Americana or even “loud folk” have at least some connection to the Old 97’s aesthetic. “But,” he insists, “there really isn’t another band like us.” Once again, he’s right. The idea of combining country textures with a rock approach has been done since the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll: witness Elvis, early Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. But Old 97’s doesn't sound much like them.
Later generations of rockers like Eagles developed their own hybrids of rock and c&w. But no one would ever mistake Old 97’s for the slick Californians who gave us “Heartache Tonight” or “Disco Strangler.”
Asked about artists whose work has had an impact on the sound of his band, Bethea names some of the greats. While many Old 97’s songs are group-composed and arranged, singer-guitarist Rhett Miller is the band’s primary songwriter.
And Bethea describes a central component of the band’s signature sound as the product of Miller’s creativity, informed by an appreciation for David Bowie, Lennon and McCartney and Elvis Costello. Those musical touchstones offer a connection to what the band is all about.
“I don’t even listen to country,” Bethea admits with a laugh. But in the same breath, he confesses that he very much likes playing it. “Even from the very beginning before I met Rhett and Murry [Hammond, bassist], I liked playing country music on my guitar. It was fun bending those notes.” A few moments into the discussion, he hits upon a way of describing Old 97’s that suits him. “It’s modern music, played in the style of old-fashioned music,” he suggests. “That’s what we’ve always been.”
Timeless music might be an even better way of describing it. Miller’s wry lyrics and the irresistible guitar licks make a song like “Murder (Or a Heart Attack)” from the band’s fourth album, 1999’s Too Far to Care, a stone classic. Call it what you will, but it’s great stuff, the kind of music that makes listeners want to throw away all the labels and just appreciate the music for its greatness.
Each time Old 97’s release an album – 2020’s Twelfth is their latest one, by the way – the record is greeted by critical praise. And their latest single, “Turn off the TV,” rose to the #22 spot on Billboard’s Adult Alternative singles chart. But nearly a quarter century into its existence, the group still somehow flies under the radar of many who (by most measures) should appreciate their music.
The likely reason for that brings us back to that nagging what-is-their-sound question. Not fitting neatly into an existing category makes it difficult when it comes to things like marketing. “It makes it nearly impossible,” Bethea says with a good-natured (if resigned) chuckle.
“But on the good side,” he hastens to add, “when your [sound is super-specific, you ‘scratch the itch’ for a segment of the population.” And while there may not be a massive contingent of Old 97’s fans, many of those who know them, love them.
Bethea says that he’s lost count of how many times he’s engaged in conversation with a stranger, only for the dialogue to unfold like this: “You tell them you’re in a band, and they’re excited,” he says. “Then you tell ‘em the name of the band, and they’ve never heard of us.
And that’s here in Dallas!”
After the laughter subsides, he completes his example. “But then when you talk to the fourth or fifth person, they say, ‘Holy shit! I’ve seen you guys so many times!’”
Back in the 1970s when Bob Seger broke out as a national success, there was a saying about him: “He took years and years to become an overnight success.” Though Seger was a well-respected and hard working Detroit rocker since the mid ‘60s, it wasn’t until the release of Live Bullet in 1976 that he became a household name.
And so – just maybe – it might be the same with Old 97’s.
Superb albums, spirited concerts and a surprising level-headedness – the original lineup has stayed together all these years without a single personnel change – are all commendable qualities. But they don’t necessarily push a band into next-level, high-profile success.
What might just do that is a little motion picture called Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Released to the Disney+ streaming service last Christmas, the popular action-adventure-comedy film takes the popular Marvel superhero franchise to the next level, and onto TV screens. Alongside beloved characters like Peter “Star-Lord” Quill, Drax the Destroyer and Nebula is an intergalactic rock band, Bzermikitokolok and the Knowheremen.
The nearly-unpronounceable band is none other than Old 97’s, making their feature film debut.
It’s fair to wonder how the band landed such a high-profile spot. Not surprisingly, it has everything to do with the fact that the filmmakers could have been the fourth or fifth person in Bethea’s example.
“James Gunn is the director and writer of Guardians of the Galaxy, and his brother, Sean, is also in it.” he explains. Bback in the early days of Old 97’s, one Gunn brother lived in St. Louis, the other in Chicago.
The two would make a point of attending every Old 97’s show in either city.
Bethea says that he and his band mates only found out about all this six or seven years ago when they met James Gunn for the first time. “And James was like, ‘I'd love to get you involved in our Guardians movie, but the music’s all from the ‘70s.’ So we didn’t really fit.”
Unfortunately, the same would be true when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 were made. But then came the holiday special, a winking nod at the infamous stinkeroo, 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special.
Because the Disney+ film would be a change of pace, Gunn felt he had the freedom to go a different direction with the music. He also wanted actor Kevin Bacon – who had been referenced previously in Guardians movies – to appear. So in the film, Bacon portrays a fictionalized version of himself, and he sings a song with Old 97’s.
Unlike Bacon, the band members were heavily made up to look like intergalactic creatures; until the music starts, they’re barely recognizable as the four Texans of Old 97’s. Reportedly, wrangling the musicians into their costumes and makeup took several hours. “But now I’m in the Marvel universe!” exclaims Bethea. “That so badass! It was really fun shooting the film, and it was amazing when it came out. It was mind-blowing.” And it brought Old 97’s to a whole new audience.
Not making too much of his brush with movie stardom, Bethea is first and foremost proud of the music he and his band mates make. And even though Old 97’s haven’t raked in millions of dollars or achieved worldwide fame – not yet anyway – he says that there’s a simple reason the four of them stick with it.
“It’s our ‘fishing trip,’” he says.
“We get along very well. I like hanging out with the guys [in the band], and I like hanging out with our crew,” Bethea says. “I enjoy the process of going and playing shows, and I think everybody else does, too. It's still really fun to do it.”
He equates being in Old 97’s to spending nearly all your time doing your favorite thing. “It’s like if you're really into fishing,” he explains, “and you get to drive around the country doing it with your best friends. But every time you catch a fish, there would be 1000 people that cheer. It’s amazing!”
Old 97's in Rock On Magazine
