Rhett Miller
Encyclopedia
Stewart Ransom Miller II , better-known as Rhett Miller (born September 6, 1970) is the lead singer of the alternative country
band Old 97's
and a successful solo musician. He graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas
, a private boys' school in Dallas
in 1989 and briefly attended Sarah Lawrence College
on a creative writing scholarship before dropping out to pursue a music career. His first musical endeavor was in 1990 with Murry Hammond and drummer Benjamin Warrenfells, who formed the Sleepy Heroes, an alterna-pop band. The Sleepy Heroes released one album, Under a Radio Sun, before their breakup.
was produced and recorded by future Old 97's
member Murry Hammond. The 2002 album The Instigator
, produced and recorded with Jon Brion
, received critical acclaim and substantial airplay on alternative-oriented radio stations. In 2006, Miller released The Believer, his first effort for the Verve Forecast
label. It includes a cover of Brion's "I Believe She's Lying", and "Fireflies", a duet with Rachael Yamagata
. His most recent album, Rhett Miller
, was released in June 2009 (Shout! Factory
), and includes Jon Brion on guitar and bass, The Apples In Stereo’s John Dufilho on drums and Billy Harvey on guitar. Upon the album's release, Rolling Stone
called it Miller's "strongest solo set ever." "I Need To Know Where I Stand" is the first single from the album, and was available for listen on Miller's MySpace page several weeks before the release of the album.
In 2004, Miller toured with Neil Finn
and recorded a version of Simon and Garfunkel
's "Homeward Bound" for one of MasterCard
's "Priceless" advertisements. Songs from Miller's second solo album, The Instigator, were featured on an episode of Joan of Arcadia
during its short run on CBS
. Songs by both Miller and Old 97's have been used in the soundtrack of the American comedy series Scrubs
. Miller also covered The Beatles
song "Girl
" for 2005's This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul
. In 2008, Miller co-produced the first EP, No One Will Know, of New York band The Spring Standards
.
Miller married model Erica Iahn a week after he completed production of The Instigator. Iahn found out she was pregnant with their first child, Max, while Miller was wrapping up his tour with Tori Amos
to promote the album. Their daughter, Soleil, was born in the spring of 2006. Miller's song "Happy Birthday Don't Die" is his imagining of what the world will be like when Soleil celebrates her 100th birthday.
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
band Old 97's
Old 97's
The Old 97's are an alternative country band from Dallas, Texas. Formed in 1993, they have since released nine studio albums, two full extended plays, shared split duty on another, and have one live album. Their most recent release is The Grand Theatre, Volume Two...
and a successful solo musician. He graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas
St. Mark's School of Texas
The St. Mark's School of Texas is a nonsectarian preparatory day school for boys located in Preston Hollow, Dallas, Texas, USA. The School offers grades 1–12.-History:...
, a private boys' school in Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
in 1989 and briefly attended Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...
on a creative writing scholarship before dropping out to pursue a music career. His first musical endeavor was in 1990 with Murry Hammond and drummer Benjamin Warrenfells, who formed the Sleepy Heroes, an alterna-pop band. The Sleepy Heroes released one album, Under a Radio Sun, before their breakup.
History
Rhett Miller has recorded four solo albums. The 1989 album MythologiesMythologies (album)
Mythologies is the first studio album by American country/rock band performer, Rhett Miller, who later became the lead singer and songwriter of the Old 97's. Miller recorded the album with friend, and future Old 97's bassist, Murry Hammond...
was produced and recorded by future Old 97's
Old 97's
The Old 97's are an alternative country band from Dallas, Texas. Formed in 1993, they have since released nine studio albums, two full extended plays, shared split duty on another, and have one live album. Their most recent release is The Grand Theatre, Volume Two...
member Murry Hammond. The 2002 album The Instigator
The Instigator
The Instigator is the second studio album by American country/rock band performer, Rhett Miller, lead singer of the Old 97's. Miller's first album came more than a decade before, languishing in folk obscurity, but The Instigator received airplay and as much commercial success as any Old 97's...
, produced and recorded with Jon Brion
Jon Brion
Jon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.-Early life:...
, received critical acclaim and substantial airplay on alternative-oriented radio stations. In 2006, Miller released The Believer, his first effort for the Verve Forecast
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
label. It includes a cover of Brion's "I Believe She's Lying", and "Fireflies", a duet with Rachael Yamagata
Rachael Yamagata
Rachael Yamagata is an American singer-songwriter and pianist from Arlington, Virginia. She began her musical career with the band Bumpus before becoming a solo artist and releasing four EP's and three studio albums...
. His most recent album, Rhett Miller
Rhett Miller (album)
Rhett Miller is the eponymous album from Old 97's lead singer Rhett Miller. This is his fourth solo album, and first since his 2006 album The Believer...
, was released in June 2009 (Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
), and includes Jon Brion on guitar and bass, The Apples In Stereo’s John Dufilho on drums and Billy Harvey on guitar. Upon the album's release, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
called it Miller's "strongest solo set ever." "I Need To Know Where I Stand" is the first single from the album, and was available for listen on Miller's MySpace page several weeks before the release of the album.
In 2004, Miller toured with Neil Finn
Neil Finn
Neil Mullane Finn, OBE is a New Zealand Pop recording artist. Along with his brother Tim Finn, he was the co-frontman for Split Enz and is now frontman for Crowded House...
and recorded a version of Simon and Garfunkel
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...
's "Homeward Bound" for one of MasterCard
MasterCard
Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...
's "Priceless" advertisements. Songs from Miller's second solo album, The Instigator, were featured on an episode of Joan of Arcadia
Joan of Arcadia
Joan of Arcadia is an American television fantasy/family drama telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi , who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on Fridays, 8-9 p.m...
during its short run on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. Songs by both Miller and Old 97's have been used in the soundtrack of the American comedy series Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
. Miller also covered The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
song "Girl
Girl (Beatles song)
"Girl" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an original idea by Lennon and performed by The Beatles on their 1965 album Rubber Soul. "Girl" was the last complete song recorded for that album.-History:...
" for 2005's This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul
This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul
This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul is an indie tribute album by a variety of artists that commemorates, as the title suggests, the fortieth anniversary of the release of The Beatles' 1965 album Rubber Soul. It was released on October 25, 2005 by Razor & Tie...
. In 2008, Miller co-produced the first EP, No One Will Know, of New York band The Spring Standards
The Spring Standards
The Spring Standards is an independent three-piece folk-rock band based in New York City.-Biography: James Cleare, Heather Robb and James Smith first sang together in the last summer of the 20th century...
.
Miller married model Erica Iahn a week after he completed production of The Instigator. Iahn found out she was pregnant with their first child, Max, while Miller was wrapping up his tour with Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
to promote the album. Their daughter, Soleil, was born in the spring of 2006. Miller's song "Happy Birthday Don't Die" is his imagining of what the world will be like when Soleil celebrates her 100th birthday.
Albums
| Year | Album details | Singles |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Mythologies Mythologies (album) Mythologies is the first studio album by American country/rock band performer, Rhett Miller, who later became the lead singer and songwriter of the Old 97's. Miller recorded the album with friend, and future Old 97's bassist, Murry Hammond...
|
- |
| 2002 | The Instigator The Instigator The Instigator is the second studio album by American country/rock band performer, Rhett Miller, lead singer of the Old 97's. Miller's first album came more than a decade before, languishing in folk obscurity, but The Instigator received airplay and as much commercial success as any Old 97's...
|
"Our Love," "Come Around" |
| 2006 | The Believer (#138 US)
|
"Help Me, Suzanne" |
| 2009 | Rhett Miller Rhett Miller (album) Rhett Miller is the eponymous album from Old 97's lead singer Rhett Miller. This is his fourth solo album, and first since his 2006 album The Believer... (#128 US)
|
"I Need to Know Where I Stand" |
| 2011 | The Interpreter (Live at Largo) The Interpreter (album) The Interpreter is a live album and a collection of cover songs, performed by Old 97's front man Rhett Miller at the Largo nightclub in Los Angeles, California. It was released in 2011, the recordings being from something of a farewell performance for the Largo before it closed its doors...
|
- |
Other Releases
- This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber SoulThis Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber SoulThis Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul is an indie tribute album by a variety of artists that commemorates, as the title suggests, the fortieth anniversary of the release of The Beatles' 1965 album Rubber Soul. It was released on October 25, 2005 by Razor & Tie...
, "Girl"Girl (Beatles song)"Girl" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an original idea by Lennon and performed by The Beatles on their 1965 album Rubber Soul. "Girl" was the last complete song recorded for that album.-History:...