Rhett Miller Breaks Our Hearts

February 28th (usually) marks the end of the shortest month of the year, the month with a holiday devoted to love, the month where women's magazines dedicate chunks of print to relationship issues and how to overcome loneliness. Feb. 28th also marked the day Rhett Miller's latest solo effort, The Believer, came out.

Woo Hoo!

We love the Old 97's and, by extension, their leading man, Mr. Miller. The Old 97's are from Dallas and our realtor has played the mandolin on stage with them. We figure that is Austin connection enough.

Rhett, oh, Rhett, you sure know how to get to us. We are suckers for poppy rock and poppy folk. We like good melodies and catchy lyrics. We like a good love song and a great heartbreak tune. We think you get us, Rhett, unlike the rest of this chaotic and cold world. Yeah, we're talking to you, bitchy Target woman! But we digress. The album's the thing to talk about. Let's clear our throats and get on with it.

It starts with "My Valentine" (hello again, February!): a punchy beginning. Yeah, we are getting into it. Jumping around our living room, feeling the love. Some of our favorites so far include
"Meteor Shower" ("Love gets you in the gut / takes the top off of your head and make you wish that you were dead..."), "Fireflies" -- nothing short of beautiful duet with Rachel Yamagata -- and then the song of all painful and true songs, "The Believer." This song kills us. This song brings the world crashing down. But somehow the sun still rises at the end. Just like life, right? Rhett knows his psychological shit. You've gotta love that.