MUSIC Growing ‘Old’ Gracefully

FAYETTEVILLE — Some years ago, the title of “alternative country pioneer” loomed large for Rhett Miller, lead singer and vocalist for the Old 97’s.

“I was really conscious about bearing that mantle,” he says in a recent phone conversation. “I appreciate being held up as one of (those bands).”

Along with bands such as Uncle Tupelo, The Jayhawks and Whiskeytown, the Old 97’s are credited with popularizing the genre responsible for the rise of pearl-snap shirts, the overuse of “jangle” in music writing and bands such as Wilco, Band of Horses and dozens more.

The Dallas-based Old 97’s debut album, 1994’s “Hitchhike to Rhome,” fit the alt-country mold precisely, with driving, rootsy boogies, songs about drinking and bars and a cover of a Merle Haggard tune.

It helped get the Old 97’s noticed, and for the past 15 years, they’ve been storming through the country with a live show that has earned critical raves. Tonight, they’ll bring that live act to George’s Majestic Lounge.

It is a maturing group that arrives in Fayetteville for their first gig here in what Miller estimates to be about 10 years.

That maturation comes from the members’ physical aging but also from Miller’s dedication to songwriting, something he takes very seriously.

“If you’re working at a craft,I think you’re going to grow,” he says.

That effort can be heard on the band’s 2008 album, “Blame It On Gravity,” available from New West Records, home of artists such as Kris Kristofferson and Drive-By Truckers.

That album takes the band in more of a power-pop direction, especially on tracks such as “Dance With Me.” The band has also completed the first part of its next album, “The Grand Theater, Volume 1.” The second part of “The Grand Theater” will be released sometime next year, Miller says. He describes the first part of the set, due Oct.

12, as “garage rock.”

But that doesn’t mean the Old 97’s - which draw their name from Johnny Cash’s version of the song “Wreck of the Old 97” - have abandoned their country roots. Miller describes one of the band’s newest songs, “Two Family Trees,” as a certifiable Texas two-step.

Regardless of which genre the music falls into, there is a dedication to writing fresh, topical material.

“I’m always trying to moveforward,” Miller says. “And it’s less laser-focused on my misery. But I still like to plumb there.”

Miller says he and his bandmates are excited about visiting Fayetteville, even if the band did once make fun of this city in song. The track “Lonely Holiday,” from the album “Fight Songs,” contains the line “It was a lonely holiday … in Fayetteville or in another state/There is so many towns I hate.”

The song, Miller acknowledges, is about the city in Arkansas, but he says it’s told from the perspective of a girlfriend who hates every town her traveling musician boyfriend visits.

Those who go to the show can hear it in person, he promises.

“Hell yes, I’m going to play that song,” Miller says with a chuckle.

It’s not some challenge to the city, but an acknowledgment of where the band has come from and where it has yet to go. From the nascent days of a genre they helped invent to the quartet that visits Northwest Arkansas this weekend, the Old 97’s are still working hard, Miller says, even if they’ve always been just under the musicbuying world’s collective radar.

“Never having enormous success, it keeps you hungry,” he says.