Old 97's

The Old 97’s have escaped easy classification by churning out album after album of bouncy power pop coated with a patina of alt-country rootsiness. That air of antiquity is all over The Grand Theatre Volume Two, last year’s slab of twangy rave-ups. The “grand” venue in question is Dallas’ Sons Of Hermann Hall, the historic theater where Ken Bethea, Murry Hammond, Rhett Miller, and Philip Peeples worked out the more than two dozen songs split between the Grand Theatre’s twin volumes, the first of which was released in 2010. Wrangling the renowned energy of the band’s live show into a recorded form, tracks like “Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You)” hurdle the album’s signs of age with twist-worthy hooks and ragged vocals.

Updated 04/26/2012