Rhett Miller was feeling reflective. As he searched for a producer to record his first solo LP in three years, the Old 97’s front man reached back to the man who helped him create his first-ever solo LP 36 years ago: His bandmate Murry Hammond.
Hammond and Miller joined forces when the Miller was just 17 years old, to work on what became Mythologies, first released in 1989. The bond formed then and sustained over the ensuing decades gives A lifetime of riding by night, which drops Oct. 10, a palpable pathos — the sound of two lifelong friends finding solace in music at an anxious, uncertain juncture.
Night was first laid down by Miller, who recorded his vocals and guitar work prior to going in for potentially career-ending surgery on his vocal cords. The procedure was successful, and Miller has recovered.
“There’s a lot of terrifying stories about the type of surgery I received, and I wanted to record the album first because I knew the worst outcomes were on the table,” Miller said in a statement. “I was in a lot of physical pain as I was singing these songs; there are moments when you can hear me really struggling. But as much as I thought about going back and re-recording the vocals once I’d recovered, I knew those imperfections were part of the DNA of the record. To me, there’s something very human about a singer trying to sing the best he can, despite being compromised.”
Indeed, the end result is a wonderfully vulnerable collection, which finds Miller also opening himself up to collaborations with other songwriters, including the Turnpike Troubadours’ Evan Felker, Caitlin Rose and Nicole Atkins.
Despite the additional hands, the 13 tunes here are unmistakably Miller — pared down, dusted with a few esoteric flourishes, but the same appealing blend of blunt and poetic he’s deployed throughout his career.
“Dallas is a wonder/Dallas is a jewel/It’s a wonder any of us survived middle school,” Miller sings on “The Bells of St. Mike’s,” a lyric typical of the backward-glancing feel of much of Night, a record which stands as one of Miller’s finest hours.
Miller will hit the road in support of Night with an extensive tour bringing him through his hometown on Nov. 9, with a stop at the Granada Theater, which will double as his annual benefit for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky (@prestonjones.bsky.social).Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
