''Hitchhike to Rhome'' is the first studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

Old 97's Old 97's is an American rock band from Dallas, Texas. Formed in 1992, they have since released twelve studio albums, two full extended plays, shared split duty on another, and have one live album. Their most recent release is ''Twelfth''. They ...

, first released on November 1, 1994 (see 1994 in music). The title comes from the song, "Stoned," and refers to

Rhome, Texas Rhome is a city in Wise County, Texas, United States. Its population was 1,630 in 2020. Rhome has a large, 12-plaque war exhibit located at Veterans Memorial Park, in a residential area east of the downtown. Geography Rhome is located at (33.0 ...

. The lyrics make numerous references to the band's

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, environs. "504" refers to the

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

for

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

(see

area code 504 Area code 504 is a telephone area code that covers greater New Orleans, Louisiana. Besides New Orleans itself (Orleans Parish), it includes all of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes and most of Jefferson Parish. 504 was one of the original ...

). The Robert mentioned in "Drowning In The Days" (as well as "Big Brown Eyes") is Miller's boyhood friend, Robert Jenkins. "Miss Molly" recalls Miller and Hammond's previous work with bluegrass band, Killbilly, with "Doreen" referring to a memorable fan of that band and referencing

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for the first of many times. "4 Leaf Clover" was re-recorded as "Four Leaf Clover" with

Exene Cervenka Exene Cervenka (born Christene Lee Cervenka; February 1, 1956) is an American singer, artist, and poet. She is best known for her work as a singer in the California punk rock band X. Music career The 21-year-old Cervenka met 23-year-old ...

for the band's 1997 album, ''

Too Far To Care ''Too Far to Care'' is the third studio album by American country/rock band Old 97's, first released on June 17, 1997 (see 1997 in music). The album's title comes from the song "Streets of Where I'm From." History The album was the band's first ...

''. Live favorite, "Wish The Worst", is the only Old 97's song with lead guitar played by someone other than Ken Bethea. "Mama Tried" is a

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

standard and is a favorite live song for bassist, Hammond. "Tupelo County Jail" is a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

, playing after a long pause at the end of the album. A 20th-anniversary, 2-disc special edition of the album was released on November 17, 2014 by

Omnivore Recordings Omnivore Recordings is an independent record label founded in 2010. It specializes in historical releases, reissues and previously unissued vintage recordings, as well as select releases of new music, on CD, vinyl and digital formats. Omnivore Re ...

. The special edition contains a separate disc of 12 rare and unreleased tracks.

Track listing

(all songs composed by Rhett Miller except where noted) #"St. Ignatius" - 4:14 #"504" - 3:39 #"Drowning in the Days" - 4:02 (Miller/Hammond) #"Miss Molly" - 2:18 (

Cindy Walker Cindy Walker (July 20, 1918 – March 23, 2006) was an American songwriter, as well as a country music singer and dancer. She wrote many popular and enduring songs recorded by many artists. She adopted a craftsman-like approach to her songwr ...

) #"Dancing with Tears" - 2:55 ( Joe Burke/

Al Dubin Alexander Dubin (June 10, 1891 – February 11, 1945) was an American lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren. Life Al Dubin came from a Russian Jewish family that emigrated to the United States from Swi ...

) #"4 Leaf Clover" - 3:14 #"Wish the Worst" - 4:32 #"Old 97's Theme" - 1:42 #"Doreen" (bluegrass version)- 3:18 (Miller/Hammond) #"Hands Off" - 4:35 #"Mama Tried" - 2:29 (

) #"Stoned" - 3:59 #"If My Heart Was a Car" - 3:29 #"Desperate Times" - 3:46 #"Ken's Polka Thing" - 13:34 (Bonus track "Tupelo County Jail" after a long pause) (Ken Bethea/

Webb Pierce Michael Webb Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was an American honky-tonk vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of the 1950s, one of the most popular of the genre, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the ...

)

Personnel

Old 97's: *Ken Bethea - electric guitar & accordion *Murry Hammond - bass, vocals & banjo *Rhett Miller - vocals & acoustic guitar *Philip Peeples - drums Additional Musicians *Andy Owens - banjo on Doreen and If My Heart Was A Car and mandolin on Doreen *Reggie Rueffer - fiddle on Hands Off * Clark Vogeler - 1st electric guitar on Wish The Worst *Alan Wooley - 2nd electric guitar on Wish The Worst

References

{{Authority control Old 97's albums 1994 debut albums