Old97s.com

Rhett Miller - Mythologies

Murry Hammond - It's a Twelve-String World

Sleepy Heroes - ?

 The Ranchero Brothers - ?

I first heard about the Old 97's about four years ago, and have spent the time since trying to collect everything they've ever recorded.  Unfortunately, these four albums are missing from the collection, and they seem to be out of print.  I don't even know the names of the last two albums.  Does anybody know if they are available anywhere?

Here are your answers:

Rhett Miller - Mythologies (1988)

Murry Hammond - It's a Twelve-String World (1991)

Also don't forget Murry's The Watering Wheel (1988), and of course I Don't Know Where I'm Going But I'm On My Way (2008)

Sleepy Heroes - Under the Radio Sun (1991)

The Ranchero Brothers - Too Far To Demo (1996) It's a Rhett & Murry four-track, acoustic demo with most of what became TFTC in '97, plus a few Ranchero chestnuts. Also notable for including an early version of Rhett's solo cut "Fireflies." Copies of TFTD surface now and then various sites.

The Rancheros recorded a proper, never-titled, studio album in 2000, but that project was shelved prior to its release. And while several Rancheros songs have made their re-recorded way onto Old 97’s albums, only three cuts from those aborted Ranchero sessions, "In The Satellite Rides A Star," “Sweet Thing Pine Bluff,” and “I’d Be Lonesome” (a Robbie Fulks cover) have been released, and then only on three limited-edition compilation albums.

Here's what Murry wrote about the album in a post to old97s.com back in May of 2000, and I'm sure you'll recognize some titles. (Also, the "My Two Feet" here is Murry's original version, the chorus of which survives with Rhett's new verses on the cut from BIOG):

Basically it will be acoustic guitar, bass and our two vocals like we do live, with an occasional overdub-for-fun such as old-time style banjo on one song, spooky steel guitar noises on others. Some of the songs are a bit psychedelic by nature, not too much though, in Beatle terms more "I'm Only Sleeping" than "Tomorrow Never Knows", if you get my drift. It will be Rancheros all the way. Song titles are:

Still not sure how many to put on the record. Maybe we'll throw them all on there - I don't know - 18 song records can get pretty long. We'll see.

But when all was said and done, Rhett & Murry faced a reluctant Elektra, which was leery of a possible 2001 RB's release conflicting with Satellite Rides, while Murry was concerned that many of the finished tracks lacked warmth, and wanted to rerecord them on lower-fi, vintage equipment, much as he did his new album. Still, the three cuts out there are magical, and it's a shame the rest of them have done nothing but sit in a can for the past eight years.

Sorry for the length, but hope this helps!

Cheers,

frank

What are the three limited-edition compilation albums?

I had been wondering about the Too Far. . . demos for a while now, so thanks for that bit of information.

I have Mythologies downloaded.  If you're interested let me know.

blureu:

What are the three limited-edition compilation albums?

Actually there are only TWO available cuts from the abandoned Ranchero Brothers album:

"I'd Be Lonesome" - The Music Of The Sons Of Hermann Hall (Vol. I) (2003)

"Sweet Thing Pine Bluff" - Sunny Teriyaki Hamburger Breakfast (2004)

I misspoke about their version of "In The Satellite Rides A Star." It remains unreleased but sounds almost identical, if a bit less filled out and glossy, compared to the version on Drag It Up.

There are also a few other otherise unreleased, individual tracks floating around out there that can be considered "Ranchero Brothers" tunes. Much like the Ranchero Too Far To Demo CD, these are Rhett & Murry doing acoustic studio demos for upcoming Old 97's albums. The tracks I've seen most often are "Bird In A Cage," (excellent and sounds very different from the 97's version) and "Designs On You."

Also, if you ever run across it, snap up Rhett Miller's long-ago 1995 solo-acoustic demo for "Valium Waltz." It's a completely different arrangement from that which finally appeared with the 97's in 2004, and really showcases his sometimes hidden, Texas singer-songwriter side. It's similar in style to "Bonfire," which should get a well-deserved premiere on his upcoming solo-acoustic record.

You can run across that "Valium Waltz" demo (and a few others) over at HBAT, actually.

Joe:

You can run across that "Valium Waltz" demo (and a few others) over at HBAT, actually.

Duh, I know that ;-)

As you can imagine, after all these years, the 97's have lots of great one-offs and outtakes in the can. In fact when we posted those clips to HBAT, there were some others that the band declined to make public, as they still hope to see them get a proper release at some point.

Leading the pack? The two tracks they cut with Waylon Jennings on lead vocals: "The Other Shoe," and "Iron Road." A rough mix of "Other Shoe" got a single airing on "The Adventure Club" in Dallas years ago, so there might be some off-air versions of that floating around. But "Iron Road" is also amazing, and excepting an in-house Elektra cassette of the rough-mixes, which sold for a small fortune on Ebay a few years ago, that thing hasn't seen the light of day since they recorded it in February, 1997.

It'll be worth the wait though.

Ah, but the wait still kills us, greedy fans that we are.  We've got two excellent albums this year and already are looking for more.

Those Waylon tracks will be great.