Rhett Miller

Texas native Rhett Miller achieved his widest recognition serving as lead singer for the Dallas-based alt-country outfit the Old 97's, yet he simultaneously built a solo career that earned consistent critical praise. The Old 97's came together in 1993 and quickly developed a loyal audience through their energetic fusion of country and power-pop styles, breaking through with the 1995 album Wreck Your Life that briefly placed the band on Elektra Records, a stint highlighted by one of their strongest releases, 1997's Too Far to Care. Although all four members explored outside projects, Miller's solo work attracted the most notice, as the songwriter turned his attention to themes including fatherhood, sex, and love. He introduced his solo catalog with 2002's The Instigator; most of his subsequent solo albums favored cool, melodic pop songs that carried a drier, more confessional tone than his band material, though 2012's The Dreamer found a midpoint between those pop and alt-country approaches, the 2011 collection The Interpreter: Live at Largo demonstrated his command of outside material, and 2018's The Messenger along with 2022's The Misfit emerged as bold collaborations with producer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Cohen.

Strictly speaking, Miller began releasing music under his own name before the Old 97's existed. He cut his debut solo album, the acoustic folk collection Mythologies, in 1989. Future Old 97's bassist Murry Hammond, himself a capable songwriter, produced that record, and the two later formed a complete band around their partnership. While issuing a series of well-received albums with the Old 97's, Miller and Hammond also performed as the Ranchero Brothers, an acoustic duo originally created to preview new Old 97's songs for live audiences. The Ranchero Brothers built their own following, even though the project never produced any albums.

Stepping away from the Old 97's, Miller entered the studio in February 2002 to record his first major-label solo project, this time assisted by producer and multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion. The Instigator arrived roughly seven months afterward, after which Miller toured with former Crowded House frontman Neil Finn in early 2003. He then rejoined the Old 97's in the studio, quieting speculation that he intended to abandon the group for solo work, yet he continued to balance both endeavors, resulting in the February 2006 release of his second solo album, The Believer, on Verve.

Following another Old 97's session that produced 2007's Blame It on Gravity, Miller maintained his dual focus by preparing a further solo record. The self-titled album appeared in 2009 on Shout! Factory. His next two solo efforts, 2010's The Interpreter: Live at Largo and 2012's The Dreamer, both came out on his own Maximum Sunshine imprint. After delivering one of the Old 97's' strongest collections in years with 2014's Most Messed Up, Miller shifted direction on the solo front with 2015's The Traveler, which included support from Black Prairie (featuring several Decemberists members) and a guest turn from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck. After additional recording and touring with the Old 97's, Miller traveled to Brooklyn, New York, to record 2018's The Messenger alongside producer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Cohen, previously known for work with Apollo Sunshine and Yellowbirds; ATO Records issued the album.

In 2019 Miller expanded into podcasting with the launch of Wheels Off, subtitled "A Show About the Messy Reality Behind the Creative Life," featuring conversations with musicians, authors, visual artists, comedians, and other creative professionals. He co-wrote the songs "Fallen Again" and "Cigarettes in the Rain" with Joshua Fleming of the Vandoliers for the band's 2019 album Forever, and he wrote "Misanthrope" with Salim Nourallah for the latter's 2020 EP Jesus of Sad. Also in 2020 the Old 97's released Twelfth, appropriately the group's twelfth full-length album. Miller again partnered with producer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Cohen on his subsequent solo album, 2022's The Misfit; the pair co-wrote all eleven tracks, with Cohen handling every instrument and Miller supplying lead vocals while Annie Nero and Cassandra Jenkins contributed backing vocals.