Many bands blend country and rock, but few brew this concoction as well as the Old 97’s on Hitchhike to Rhome. Energetic frontman Rhett Miller commands attention as a charismatic vocalist and clever songwriter on tracks such as St. Ignatius and If My Heart Was a Car. On the album’s highlight Stoned, he even manages to successfully infuse the adjectives “dope” and “fly” into a country song. Bass player Murry Hammond supplies smooth harmonies throughout the album, in addition to lead vocals on the excellent Merle Haggard cover Mama Tried. Musically, the Old 97’s are capable of shifting comfortably between bluegrassy honky tonk (“Doreen”) and the occasional serene ballad (“Dancing with Tears”). Ken Bethea’s guitar leads the band throughout its rowdy ride while…
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…Philip Peeples’ steady drumming manages to somehow hold everything together. Other standouts include “Drowning in the Days,” “Hands Off,” and “504.” Further demonstrating their country roots, there is even a secret hidden version of Webb Pierce’s “Tupelo County Jail” after the last listed track. Though their debut sounds more sparse and simplified than their subsequent releases, Hitchhike to Rhome showcases the spark of a truly original band with endless potential.
In 2014, Omnivore Recordings released an expanded edition of Hitchhike to Rhome in honor of the album’s 20th anniversary. The new version was newly remixed from the original 24-track session tapes, and while the stylistic pull of the performances isn’t especially different, the audio is cleaner and more full-bodied than on the original Big Iron Records edition. If this still sounds like a rough draft of what the Old ’97s would later accomplish in the studio, the strong points — particularly Rhett Miller’s sly, witty vocals and Ken Bethea’s lean, gutsy guitar lines — prove the Old ’97s were already a band worth watching. A second disc includes 12 bonus tracks, including six from 1993 demo sessions prior to Philip Peeples joining the band, four outtakes from the Hitchhike to Rhome sessions — including early versions of “Victoria” and “Crying Drunk,” both of which the group would re-record for Bloodshot Records — and two tunes Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond recorded together before the band came together. The demos sound spare compared to the album, with the bass and drums barely there in the mix, but the band’s basic character is there, and the pre-’97s “Alright by Me” is one of Miller’s funniest and boldest statements about his “serial lady killer” persona.