RHETT MILLER
Old 97's

For almost ten years now, Rhett Miller has balanced a solo career with a band career, as both the leader of the rock band Old 97's and as an acclaimed singer-songwriter in his own right. Last year, the Old 97's released their seventh full-length studio album, Blame It On Gravity, on May 13, 2008. The still-active quartet was prominently featured in the Jennifer Aniston/Vince Vaughn romantic comedy, The Break Up.

Now, just a year later, Miller returns with his fourth solo record, the self-titled Rhett Miller . Earlier solo projects like The Instigator (2002) and The Believer (2006) found Miller exploring, respectively, the power-pop dimension of his work and the moodier ballad work. Rhett Miller continues in the latter direction, though it contains plenty of Miller's scalpel-sharp wordplay.

Despite Miller's interest in covering more sophisticated ground, plenty of the record goes straight for the pop-music jugular. The twelve songs on Rhett Miller were produced by Salim Nourallah, who also produced Blame It On Gravity. While the record was originally conceived as a spartan acoustic set, the list of contributing musicians soon blossomed: The Apples In Stereo's John Dufilho played drums, Billy Harvey contributed guitar, and the multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion also pitched in.

After a series of special summer dates with the Old 97s - the shows, billed as "An Evening With...," will open with a solo set by Miller featuring songs from the new record and his solo catalog - Miller is looking toward a fall tour. “After that I’m looking forward to playing these songs with a rock band to do justice to their scope and their energy.”

For information about Rhett Miller, visit his websites at: www.rhettmiller.com and www.myspace.com/rhettmiller.