Bumbershoot Review: Old 97's: Too Little Angst and a Whole Lotta Hip-Shaking

Renee McMahon

Rhett Miller, with Old 97s, at Bumbershoot on Sept. 5.

With his near-mullet and tight button-up shirt, you could call Old 97's lead singer Rhett Miller the poor man's John Mellencamp, but that's not really accurate. He's more like the upper-middle class man's John Mellencamp. There's so little angst and commentary in Miller's country songs, and he lacks that rough-around-the-edges quality. Sometimes, he even seems happy, especially when he's impersonating Elvis Presley with his hips. Sure, he's got a song about being born in the backseat of a Ford Mustang and another about giving up on love, but that's nothing compared to the songs about middle America and mortality made famous by the man formerly known as John Cougar. The closest the Old 97's came to angst was when the band covered Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried." That's a song about heartache.

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