Blame It on Gravity

iTunes Review

This alt-country quartet’s seventh studio album and first in four years, 2008’s Blame it On Gravity, is the sound of a band fully recharged and ready for the road. Though two members live on opposite coasts and main songwriter Rhett Miller has been working up a solo career with two worthy solo albums, the originally Dallas-based Old 97’s integrate their interests in power pop’s energy and country music’s lonesome sweepings with a studio’s worthy polish and a live band’s perceptible energy. While tunes such as “The Fool,” “No Baby I” and “Early Morning“ kick back with the band’s recognizable cowpunk bounce, the album also contains several welcome surprises. “She Loves the Sunset” recalls the laid-back acoustic ambitions and earnest sentiments of Jonathan Richman. “This Beautiful Thing,” with its jangling midtempo and smooth harmonies, and the wistful “Color of a Lonely Heart is Blue,” both written by bassist Murry Hammond, add a welcome counterpoint to Miller’s jaunty excursions (“I Will Remain,” “The Easy Way”), maintaining the group’s unusual assured range.