Consumer Guide Album

Rhett Miller: The Misfit [ATO, 2022]
Although the Bowie-meets-Eno analogy he claims is among other things a mite abstract, the fifth solo album by the inventor-protagonist of the Old 97's, recorded in Covid's wake with Brooklynite Sam Cohen, sure isn't anything like "alt-country." Although the melodies are as graced as ever, the tempos tend moderate and the sonics synthy. Many of the songs adduce personal relationships more complex than I'd wish on any long-married 52-year-old father of two near-adult teenagers. But when songwriting is your craft, you follow the tales and logic that present themselves. From "Let's spend the night together and never spend the night together again" to "If I'm gonna get to heaven I'm gonna have to go through you" to "At the end of the day/You'll be glad/You'll be glad you stayed," he's in both love and art for the long haul. B+