An Evening With the Old 97's

I love the din of a crowd before a show, when the music is at the perfect volume and you get lost in the cacophony of the ebb and flow of a room full of buzzing conversations, not making out a single word, just riding the wave of anticipation. It's a humid night at Headliners and it is reassuring to see Louisville turn out to support touring music during the summer. The first act tonight is Murry Hammond, the bassist of the Old 97's, on acoustic guitar and harmonium, in a down-home style straight from the southwest. He's the kind of guy you want around after a hard day's cattle drive, after you build that fire and read some Grapes of Wrath and need a nighttime soundtrack to look at the stars. His voice suits his songs and the feel of what he's going for and was a perfect first act for the night.

Rhett Miller is the second act of the night, and it's just him and his acoustic. He puts about as much energy into an acoustic guitar as possible, and boy does he make the ladies swoon. It's like a mass reenactment of the scene in Back to the Future when the mom as her younger self swings her hair around and says "Isn't he a dream boat?". That's Rhett Miller, in his smart black collared shirt unbuttoned to his xiphoid process, the bane of EMT's everywhere. All of that said, his voice holds up and his hyper-rhythmic strumming hits all the right pops and sizzles of a snare drum. He puts so much of himself into his solo show that I can't even knock him for his looks and supermodel wife.

Set:
1. Like Love
2. Caroline
3. Help Me Suzanne
4. Refusing Temptation
5. Singular Girl
6. Bonfire
7. Come Around
8. Wave of Mutilation (pixies)

The Old 97's are a permission slip for Rhett Miller to cut loose, and there's no acoustic guitar here, but dual electrics. Their set is some of the most fun, upbeat, outdoor grillin, friends-over-for-a-party music I can think of, the kind that moves your hips and shoulders before you know what's gotten into you. By the seventh song, Rollerskate Skinny, when Rhett is singing "I believe in Love, but it don't believe in me", the crowd is eating out of his hand; he is the Pied Piper of Louisville, the High Prophet of Love Gone Wrong. Rhett's getting sweaty, his voice is getting raspy and the ladies are getting crazy. He is not, however, the cocky pretty boy I expect him to be. He has a genuine humility and appreciation for the moment that I can't look down upon. Toward the end of the set, he says, "In my sweaty fervor, I forgot to ask y'all how you're doing tonight?". It seems that the stage is also place germane for fun. In the end, the packed house at Headliners was treated to a good time had by all, with the crowd singing along to their favorites and the band happy to be the Old 97's.

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Setlist:
1. Dance With Me
2. Barrier Reef
3. Doreen
4. No Baby
5. Mama Tried (Merle Haggard)
6. Salome
7. Rollerskate Skinny
8. Here's to the Halcyon
9. If My Heart Was A Car
10. missed title patsy cline song(?)
11. Question
12. Because I do (from where I stand)(?)
13. Ride
14. Big Brown Eyes
15. She's the center(?)
16. Book of Poems
17. The Easy Way
18. Always hearing voices in the street