The Believer

Rhett Miller has a preternatural knack for crafting gorgeous, poppy melodies, and his third solo record, *The Believer*, is full of them. “Help Me, Suzanne” has jangling guitars and Miller’s soft, lilting voice navigating the melancholy chorus, while “Delicate” injects some thrashy rock ’n’ roll energy into the mix without sacrificing catchiness. “Ain’t That Strange” is similarly rollicking with its swaggering, bluesy riffs, and Miller visits his country roots with “Fireflies,” a beautiful, swaying duet with the smoky-voiced Rachael Yamagata.

Rhett Miller's 2002 solo album The Instigator was sharper, wittier, catchier, and rockier than the work he'd been doing around that time with his band Old 97's, but fans of the record worried when Miller followed it up with yet another hit-and-miss Old 97's effort, and the first couple of spins through his overly…

When Rhett Miller is fronting his alt-country band the Old 97s, he is many things: Texan sex God, drunken lonesome cowboy, hopeless romantic.