Old 97's Release “Somebody” Ahead Of New Album

Alt-country pioneers Old 97’s released “Somebody,” the final pre-release single to be pulled from their 13th studio album American Primitive that will be released this Friday, April 5 via ATO Records. The band has also announced a lengthy 20+ date summer tour that will kick off in July and make stops in Boston, New York, Washington D.C. and many more. Additionally, the band kicks off their west coast tour in Santa Fe, NM tomorrow before making stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and many more. 

Pre-order American Primitive.

About the new single, frontman Rhett Miller explains: “‘Somebody’ is Old 97’s at our Garage Rock finest. Of all the genres into which we get shoehorned, that is the least often referenced, and the most applicable. We started off in a literal garage, and have never truly left it. I keep expecting us to soften, to settle down, to go quietly into some boring goodnight. And yet here we are, three decades in, and we are more caveman than ever. Go figure. I’m glad that we have always been willing to lean into what we are good at, the weirdness that makes us the Old 97’s. And I think ‘Somebody’ is the perfect example of that.”

“Somebody” follows the release of “Magic” and  "Where The Road Goes," the album’s lead single that features Peter Buck on guitar and was praised by Rolling Stone,BrooklynVegan, No Depression, The Dallas Morning News and many more. 

“As much as I want us to calm down and grow up, the songs that felt right for this record were mostly big and loud and brutal and dirty,” says Miller, whose bandmates include bassist Murry Hammond, guitarist Ken Bethea, and drummer Philip Peeples. Arriving just months before the 30th anniversary of Hitchhike to Rhome—a powerhouse debut that played a vital part in pioneering the alt-country genre—the Tucker Martine-produced collection is a gloriously rowdy body of work, revealing a veteran band more attuned than ever to the raw and reckless energy of truly timeless rock-and-roll.

“Over the last year of touring in celebration of our 30th anniversary, it’s been impossible not to feel some emotion welling up at the idea that my bandmates and I have been in this close brotherhood for so long,” says Miller. “I think a lot of that longevity has to do with the fact that we’re really the same band we were back then. We’ve experimented with pushing in different directions, and we’ve had experiences outside the band where we’ve learned new things, but the way we approach this music has fundamentally remained the same. Our heart is still in the exact same place.”