The Old 97s: My Country Introduction

So there I was, just a young punk rocking teenager filled with youthful angst and energy and would never be caught dead listening to any of that schmaltzy crap people were calling country music in those days.  At the wise age of 14, all I wanted to hear was either Green Day's American Idiot all the way through or spin one of NOFX's many, many rants against the status quo.  One weekend I found myself on a boy's barbeque trip throughout central Texas with my youth group in a small bus and I was pissed because I didn't have my headphones and had exhausted my rights to song choosing at this point.  It was around this time that a twenty-something year old guy named Wes through on a jam by a band called the Old 97's, a band from Dallas (where we were all from) which all the other twenty-something year old's seemed there to be happy to hear.  The song was called Timebomb:

I remember being very confused and intrigued upon hearing this as a kid.  It wasn't exactly country and it wasn't exactly the snot-nosed punk rock I was listening, it just seemed to ride the line somewhere in between the two (minus the snot-nosed aspect).  At the time, I don't think I was quite emotionally ready for such a shake on my grasp in music so I went back to listening to the snot-nosed crap for a little while longer; however, the name stuck with me.

As I went through highschool in the following years I eventually moved away from the punk stuff and into the Indie Rock scene that was beginning to establish itself as a major musical force by the middle of the Aughts; you know Modest Mouse, The Shins, stuff like that.  By my senior year I had tired a bit on that and was looking for something new and different.  With my departure from the city only a year away I began to have a desire to discover some of the music from ol' D Town.  I remembered the name the Old 97s (thanks in part to a very random shout out in the sub par film The Break Up) so I went up to Best Buy and bought a compilation of theirs; after popping the disc into my Nissan Sentra's CD player that old feeling of intrigue and confusion returned as the first chords blared through my speakers.

This one didn't quite have the breakneck speed and energy of Timebomb, and though I admittedly felt this number was a bit "too country" upon first hearing it, this was my true introduction to the world of Alt-Country.

I'll skip the rest of the crap (as I feel I've already done a little too much personal story time and not enough talking about the band) but needless to say, these fellas quickly became one of my favorite bands and single-handedly eased me into a whole  genre of music I had ignored for so long.  With a sound that is oft times described as "Cash Meets the Clash", the Old 97's are one the staple bands of the alternative country scene that took off in the 1990s.  Incorporating some of the slack-vibe from 90's Alternative Rock bands like Pavement and mixing it with more traditional styles of folk and country along with a punk rock edge, the Old 97's-- along with some other bands I'll cover further on down the line-- the Old 97's brought a sound to the table that was fresh and very contrary the country that was dominating the charts at the time such as Garth Brooks' "Callin' Baton Rouge".  The 97s first album, Hitchhike to Rhome (cleverly named for a small town northwest of Dallas), is certainly not their best; as they're still throwing a lot of different sounds and ideas against the wall and trying to see what sticks.  Their sophomore effort, Wreck Your Life, brings them much closer to finding the sound that fits the aforementioned tag that has come to describe them; as heard in the first lick from album opener, "Victoria":

This album was certainly good, however it's their next effort and major label debut, 1997's Too Far Too Care (hey check out the year, weird), that is the best effort from their early years and has since become a staple of the Alt-Country genre.  Too Far Too Care has all the elements that make the Old 97's who they are working in full force; and here they toe that line between rock and country as well as anyone ever has.  It's an album with fast-paced stompers, tear-in-your-beer ballads, and tight song writing on Rhett Miller's part that seems to show equal influence from Buddy Holly, The Beatles, Johnny Cash, and Joe Strummer.

This album is certainly the best intro to the Old 97's and is solid introduction to 90's Alt. Country in general.  Because these guys hold such a dear place in my musical upbringing, later on in the week we'll check out what these guys have been up since that whole Alt Country thing kind of died out, and I'll explain why I'd go to see 97's over U2 any day...