(i.e. marketing) Verve Forecast is proud to announce the release of Rhett Miller's second solo album, The Believer, due in stores on February 28th 2006. A follow-up to the highly acclaimed The Instigator, the new record is brimming with, as Blender said, "knock 'em dead songs." Already widely-loved for his work as frontman and main songwriter of the hard-charging rock 'n' roll quartet the Old 97's (of which he is still a member), The Believer takes its predecessor's achievements several steps further, with a dozen deeply felt, craftily melodic tunes that demonstrate the Texas-bred artist's knack for using accessible songcraft to address complex emotional issues."The songs on The Believer are about sex, war, love and death...but mostly sex." Miller says. "Before going into the studio, I thought I'd be making a punk rock Ziggy Stardust, but I wound up with George Gershwin does T. Rex's The Slider."
The Believer was produced by George Drakoulias (Black Crowes, The Jayhawks, Tom Petty), and features an all-star cast of musicians including guitarist Lyle Workman (Sheryl Crow, Beck), drummer Matt Chamberlain (Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, David Bowie), multi-intsrumentalist Jon Brion (Kanye West, Fiona Apple), keyboardist Patrick Warren (Aimee Mann) and Gary Louris of The Jayhawks on background vocals. Rachel Yamagata lends a hand as well.
Miller continues to balance his solo endeavors with his membership in the Old 97's. The still-active quartet has released seven albums since 1994, and is prominently featured in the soon-to-be-released Jennifer Aniston/Vince Vaughn romantic comedy The Breakup.
Along with labelmates on the re-launched Verve Forecast label Brazilian Girls, Lizz Wright, Jamie Cullum, Susan Tedeschi, Teddy Thompson and others, Rhett Miller joins a fine tradition of legendary artists emanating from Verve including Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, The Velvet Underground, and the Righteous Brothers just to name a few.
Miller and his new band will be on tour for most of 2006 -- more details to come soon.
