Monday August 1, 2022 “Help Me, Suzanne” Rhett Miller (Old 97’s)
Most of the songs of the day tend to be from decades gone by so I thought let’s jump into the twenty first century at least for a few brief moments.
Stewart Ransom “Rhett” Miller II is probably as well known for his work as lead singer of the alt-country group, the Old 97’s as he is for his solo outings. Today’s song comes from Miller’s second solo effort, the 2006 album, The Believer. Miller's solo albums have been described as, “...cool, melodic pop tunes with a drier and more confessional bent than his work with the Old 97’s.”
Miller briefly attended Sarah Lawrence College on a creative writing scholarship before deciding to move back to Texas, where he was raised, to pursue a music career. In Texas Miller was the lead singer of various bands in Dallas between 1990 and 1993: Rhett Miller's Third Eye, Buzz, Rhett's Exploding, and Retablo, for which Miller self-recorded an unreleased record on cassette, which included some songs that would go on to become early Old 97s songs.
Not just a singer/songwriter/guitarist, Miller has written short stories, essays and articles that have appeared in publications like Rolling Stone, The Baffler, Bookforum, Sports Illustrated, McSweeney’s,The Atlantic, and Salon.
Rhett Miller is married to former model Erica Iahn, has a sixteen year old daughter, Soleil and lives in the Hudson Valley, so those of you in the area should be on the lookout for him.
Stay safe and well…and according to Miller he got the nickname “Rhett” from his mother who was a fan of the Clark Gable character Rhett Butler from the movie Gone with the Wind ...so she named him Stewart?