Rhett Miller may be the Old 97’s’ front man, but bassist-singer Murry Hammond is the band’s Western conscience — a fact he reaffirms with his second album, Trail Songs of the Deep, out July 11 on the Portland, Ore., label Fluff & Gravy.
His first solo record in 17 years, Trail Songs is a welcome return from a cinematic songwriter who sounds like he’s composing for John Ford and Sergio Leone. It’s an album of haunting Western noir, with Hammond hopscotching between a dusky tenor and eerie whistling. Pianist Annie Crawford, cellist Faith Shippey and drummer Richard Hewett round out the sound.
While Hammond has lived in L.A. for decades, Trail Songs of the Deep circles back to his roots in North Texas, where he played in the Deep Ellum-based Peyote Cowboys before co-founding Old 97’s in 1992: “Trinity River Bridge,” the longest track on the album, pays homage not just to Dallas, but to Boyd, Texas, a small town near the Trinity where he grew up. After a short tour with the 97’s — including a Sept. 19 show at Billy Bob’s — Hammond will release Another Idle Day, a second batch of songs cut during sessions that spawned Trail Songs. It’s due out in December.
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