A Question for a Stick-Legged Girl

By Matt Beshear
Staff Writer

“I got a timebomb, in my mind mom/I got it badly for a stick-legged girl/She’s gonna kill me, and I don’t mean softly/I got it bad for stick-legged girl.”

The first time I heard “Timebomb” from the Old 97’s third record, “Too Far to Care,” I was hooked. It was 1997 and I had forgotten about the whole alternative country movement after the first two Wilco records, but the shredding guitars and frantic pace of that track brought me back. I had no idea why singer/songwriter Rhett Miller had a timebomb in his mind, but it apparently had something to do with a stick-legged girl named Celeste. Twelve years later I ended up marrying a stick-legged girl myself and it all made a bit more sense.

Known as much for the band’s (Murry Hammond, bass; Ken Bethea, guitar; Philip Peeples, drums) sweaty live shows as for Rhett Miller’s songwriting, the Old 97’s are returning to the area after a long absence. In a recent phone interview with Rhett, he mentioned I wasn’t the only person that was impressed with their prowess after being given permission by Bob Dylan to use the melody line from “Desolation Row” for a track called “Champaign, IL” on their new record.

“I though it was such a great song but didn’t push for recording it because the lawyers would get involved and I’d get sued,” Rhett said. “Really, I was doing what Dylan was doing when he was starting and took a tune that I liked and wrote new lyrics for it. So it’s all new lyrics, just the same melody.”

Obviously this wouldn’t just work for anyone and as much as it had to do with who you know, it better also be a good track to submit to someone of Dylan’s caliber. But Dylan gave permission and even seems to have a sense of humor which may surprise some that have only experienced his more serious side.

“My manager called his manager and gave him a copy of me singing it at this old club Largo I used to play at and he passed it on to Dylan,” Rhett said. “I realized, after the fact, that the whole intro was still included, too, where I talked about having written new words to a Dylan song and I made some joke about everyone knows Dylan’s not that great of a lyricist. I waited around for a week or two and then got an email saying that Bob likes it and wants to read the lyrics, so I’ve never typed faster writing out all the lyrics. And then I heard back that he loved it and he’s in.”

It’s not surprising Dylan has had an influence on the band musically and lyrically, and as with most good songwriters it’s easy to see literature come through in Rhett’s lyrics. Even so much when his last solo record (2009’s “Rhett Miller”) came out he was very open about David Foster Wallace’s suicide having some effect on his songwriting process.

“I’ve gotten a lot of influence over the years from fiction, maybe even more than music. I love the idea of a story developing and the idea of characters coming to life before your eyes,” Rhett said. “Not specifically that you’re following a plot, but I just love when there’s something on the surface and then there’s something that’s subtext which you have in fiction. Maybe the narrator is sort of blind to his own weaknesses or fault, there’s just something going on that’s deeper than in your basic pop song.“

With all the songwriting accolades the main reason the band’s out right now is to support a four-song EP of covers called “Mimeograph” that was just released. What may seem like an odd mixture of songs to some actually comes off really solid, especially a very faithful rendition of the REM classic “Driver 8.”

“Our new record comes out in October which makes it kind of tough to tour right afterwards because you never really want to go out right when a record comes out because no one knows the songs yet.” Rhett added, “There’s nothing that’s a bigger beat down than playing a new song that you’re totally excited about and having it met by some version of silence. So we’re touring through the summer to remind people we’re still around and to promote this new EP of covers.”

Produced by Salim Nourallah, who did the 97’s most recent release, “Blame it on Gravity,” as well as Rhett’s last solo record, and recorded in Austin, “The Grand Theatre” will be released in October and looks to be their most adventurous effort yet. Internet rumors and the fan boards even had it pegged as a double-record early on, but that doesn’t seem to be the case now.

“We basically recorded two albums worth of material in the time it would take to record one album quickly. We just got it mastered in the last few days and now it’s all about how to release it. It may be a double record, although I don’t know at this point,” Rhett said. He added, “When we were working on it I kind of thought it was because there were so many songs, but the more I think about it I think the double albums might be done. Nobody has the patience and attention span, the record label doesn’t want it and it’s suddenly this pariah move instead of being a bold, audacious display of creative prowess.”

This tour stop is a long way from Texas, but this wont be the first trip by the 97’s to the area. And an even a more odd thing is Rhett used to spend time as a kid summering in Brainerd and the band actually enjoys touring through the winter.

“One of the things we’ve always done and probably benefited from in some of the more northern regions is we’ve always toured through January and February and sometimes that meant we got stuck in the snow,” Rhett said. “I remember one time driving through, I think, North Dakota and Murray did a 360 driving the van and that’s when decided we had to start getting drivers or go on buses. I find that people are really grateful if you show up in January or February in some place that’s snowed in.”

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If You Go

Who: Old 97s, David Wax Museum
Where: The Venue at The Hub
When: Fri, July 23, 9pm
Info: 701.232.6767