Rhett Miller – “I Need to Know Where I Stand” (Live from the House of Blues)
Posted on | October 26, 2009 | 2 Comments
I shot Rhett Miller from the Old 97’s playing a few songs before his show on October 10th at the House of Blues in Dallas. The amiable front man was nearly too energetic for my camera frame, despite the fact that he was playing to an audience of one. Read Rhett’s 5 records that inspired him here
1. Kicking off with a flurry of alliteration, Miller tells the story of on-campus love that dissolves into a confusing is-it-or-isn’t-it relationship that “feels like paralysis”. Begging his lover to give him some sort of sign, Rhett jumps forward in time to find himself “killing at a comedy club in Hollywood”, where he runs into the same woman. His affections haven’t changed a bit, and neither has the steely facade of his crush, who tells him that she loves him, but refuses to hug him and leaves him grasping for straws of fidelity. The last setting puts the couple in the “kitchen of a cracker jack box” where Miller finds himself with a less corporeal version of his would-be lover. Blurring the line between real life and a dreamy illusion, he reaches for her as she fades away. With the ultimatum that “the world might end in a minute”, he makes one last ditch effort to solidify his life’s romantic work, apparently, to no avail.
2. Miller has said that his solo songs are usually numbers that don’t fit within the Old 97’s canon. This poppy tune is obviously less twangy than the 97’s normal style, but Miller sells it with an earnestness that follows him wherever he goes. That said, I wouldn’t mind hearing Murry Hammond’s high harmony on this track. Either way, Miller’s cheerfully endearing songs about love and the complete lack of it continue to evolve and inspire.
Rhett Miller – I Need To Know Where I Stand (Live from the House of Blues)
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October 26th, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Travis Behl, Jeff. Jeff said: Rhett Miller live from the House of Blues – A SoundsCountry Video Original – http://bit.ly/3qQYAy [...]
October 27th, 2009 @ 6:49 am
This don’t sound like country, more like folk or pop
Jim