Too Far to Care

Performer: Old 97's
Artist: Exene Cervenka; John Rauhouse
Engineer: Sue Kapa; Wally Gagel
Producer: Wally Gagel
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Old 97's: Rhett Miller (vocals, guitar); Murry Hammond (vocals, bass); Ken Bethea (guitar); Philip Peeples (drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Exene Cervenkova (vocals); John Rauhouse (pedal steel, banjo); Wally Gagel (piano, Mellotron, percussion). Recorded at Village Productions, Tornillo, Texas. Personnel: Rhett Miller (vocals, guitar); Murry Hammond (vocals, bass guitar); Exene Cervenka (vocals); Ken Bethea (guitar); Wally Gagel (piano, Mellotron, percussion); Philip Peeples (drums, percussion). Audio Mixer: Wally Gagel. Recording information: Village Productions, Tornillo, TX. Photographers: Chris Gorman; Danny Clinch. Unknown Contributor Roles: Murry Hammond; Rhett Miller; Carl Plaster. The Old 97's make their jump to the majors on their second release without sacrificing any of their fire. Though they're lumped with the country-rock revivalists, they owe more to the punk-inflected sound of Mekons offshoot/former labelmates the Waco Brothers than to the Flying Burrito Brothers. Instead of relying on traditional country instrumentation, their sound is based on a foundation of fierce electric guitars and ape-with-a-stick drumming. The ferocity of their attack keeps the country cliches they occasionally revive from sounding hackneyed. The urgency and restlessness of songs like "Timebomb" and "Niteclub" share a common bond with the gotta-get-outta-here rebel spirit of the Clash's underdog anthems. The band's cowpunk roots show most clearly on "Four Leaf Clover," a duet with X's Exene Cervenka that will take you back to the days when it still seemed like Jason & The Scorchers could change the world.

Musician (6/97, p.90) - "...cow-punk deja vu...done so well, so maniacally, you never doubt these ferocious li'l varmints for one backwoods minute....Leave the Stetsons at home for this one and start slamming."

Old '97s are one of the key bands from the second (post-Uncle Tupelo) wave of alt-country. The Dallas natives made several albums' worth of fine, twang-filled rock music before abruptly switching gears for 1999's FIGHT SONGS and 2001's SATELLITE RIDES, albums that owe more to Matthew Sweet than to Merle Haggard. The band returned to a rootsier sound on subsequent albums, although front man Rhett Miller's solo work, particularly 2005's THE BELIEVER, remained steeped in pop tradition.

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