Stepping into the Pico Union Project space in Los Angeles, CA is like walking into a church, where pews for seats are flanked by stained-glass windows, and the long, large metal pipes of the organ in the gallery loom over the small stage. Originally built as a synagogue in 1909, the space was maintained by the Welsh Presbyterian Church until 2011, when it was passed on to the Jewish Historical Society. In 2013, it was founded by Craig Taubman as a multicultural center and house of faith. On the night of Thursday, March 14, 2019, the faithful fans of Rhett Miller filled the benches to hear songs of troubled souls, lovers, sinners, the faithful — vignettes of the imperfect humankind.
After a long wait between doors opening and the start of the show, Rhett Miller appeared on stage with opener Jenny O. He introduced her as having the “voice of an angel,” which set me up to expect something that wasn’t quite delivered. Jenny has one of those unique voices that makes for a memorable and recognizable solo singer or lead singer of a band. Her singing style and nonchalant attitude, reminded me of the run of female-fronted bands popular in the mid to late-1990s, such as The Breeders, The Cardigans, Catatonia, or Sixpence None the Richer. Sometimes her timbre took on too much of a “little girl” sound for my tastes (listen to the first song on her set list below to hear what I mean). I found her sound more appealing when she opened up her voice and provided more underlying breathe support on the powerful lines of her songs.
I enjoyed how she incorporated a few styles of music into her own Jenny genre — a mesh of pop, blues, girl rock, 1950s simplicity and innocence, and folk, with a hint of old school country. She is a comfortable, pleasant guitar player — mixing up fingerpicking and chords and adding in runs to embellish any tunes that had minimal chord changes. Having said that, she’s certainly more of a rhythm player; when she had moments she could solo or show off a little more, she didn’t take them. Her lyric contributions explore a range from the universal topic of love to exploring identity to introspection, reflection, and tragedy.
Jenny O.’s set included the following songs (links to album versions on YouTube):
- “If You’re Lonely” from Peace & Information
- “Power + Charm” from Peace & Information. After finishing the song, she questioned the audience, “How are you guys doing? Are you content or are you reliving childhood trauma?”
- “Learned My Lessons” from Automechanic
- “Automechanic” from Automechanic
- “Lazy Jane” from Automechanic
- “Funeral for My Former Self” from Peace & Information
- “Case Study” from Peace & Information. This song was my favorite from her set.
- I couldn’t figure out what song she played as with some of the ways she phrased her lines, it was difficult to make out the lyrics.
- “High Regard” from Peace & Information
- “Opposite Island” from Automechanic
There was an intermission between the singers, though nothing really needed to be changed on the stage. When Rhett took the stage, he welcomed the audience and noted in reference to the location, “One of the things I love about my job is, it’s never the same thing twice — this really is not the same thing!” One of the things that I love about Rhett is no matter where he plays, he does his job with the same candor and enthusiasm he might have for a large, packed to capacity theatre. In such a special space with an audience roughly around 100 people, he gave a committed performance. The spacious room and high ceilings allowed for a big, open sound that suited Rhett’s robust vocals, while the lack of bright stage lights and open windows on a cool night kept the atmosphere comfortable.
I’ve written about Rhett’s shows a few times before (My Name’s Stuart Ransom Miller (Set 1), And Do It All Night Long (Set 2), It Could Feel So Bad Sometimes, Beam of Light, We Got Seriously Down — I’m a pretty avid Rhett Miller and Old 97’s fan now). Of course I love his clever lyrics, storytelling, rich vocals and powerful held notes, rapid guitar playing, signature WindMiller move, hair flinging, hip swinging, sweat streaming, and spit spraying, fun performances. I’m only providing links below to videos of the songs that I captured at this performance, so if you want to hear how Rhett sounded in the Pico Union Project space or hear the solo acoustic version of a song, click on through! Set list for the night included:
- “Good with God” from Old 97’s album Graveyard Whistling. He had to open with this one for this location, right?
- “Four-Eyed Girl” from The Instigator
- “Won’t Be Home” from Old 97’s album Drag It Up. This his been one of my go-to power songs in the last few months, and the one song I particularly desired to hear going into the show that night.
- “Did I Lose You at I Love You” from The Messenger
- “Nite Club” from Old 97’s album Too Far to Care
- “I Don’t Wanna Die In This Town” from Old 97’s album Graveyard Whistling. When beginning this song, Rhett started playing chords for what sounded like the intro for “Good with God.” He spent a moment in thought and then switched to the start of this one, joking, “Basically it’s all just one song!”
- “Let’s Get Drunk and Get It On” from Old 97’s album Most Messed Up. Rhett introduced this one, saying he felt like it was kind of a romantic love song, but “When my band got hold of it, they just exploded it!” He noted the acoustic solo version he played for us was what it sounded like when he first wrote it.
- “I Used to Write in Notebooks” from The Messenger.
- “Rollerskate Skinny” from Satellite Rides. Leading up to this song, noting the quietness of the audience, Rhett remarked, “It’s nice to be in a listening room in L.A. Maybe you feel like you’re at a service.” He also explained that he thought of the songs he wrote in L.A. as “Largo songs,” and this one was the “most Largo” of the bunch.
- “Our Love” from The Instigator
- “Doreen” from Old 97’s albums Hitchhike to Rhome and Wreck Your Life. Rhett introduced this one with a story about a high school girlfriend and commented, “I wrote this song when I was 22, if there was any part of me in this song, he was 16.”
- “Question” from Old 97’s album Satellite Rides and also Rhett’s album The Instigator
-
“Brotherly Love” Rhett read one of his poems from his new children’s poetry book, No More Poems!: A Book in Verse that Just Gets Worse that was published earlier this month. Link to the video taken that night on the poem title, check it out and then go buy a book for a kid you love (or yourself). Warning: video does contain swearing in Rhett’s introduction, so preview if if plan on showing it to your kids (no swearing in the poem itself, though it is a dark one).
- “You Were a Stranger” from The Messenger
- “Lonely Holiday” from Old 97’s album Fight Songs
- “The Human Condition” from The Messenger. The song contains the line from which the album was titled and that I’ve quoted for the title of this post, “Don’t get mad at me I’m just the messenger; I’m just saying what I’m seeing…”
- “Big Brown Eyes” from Old 97’s albums Wreck Your Life and Too Far to Care
- “Happiness” Elliott Smith cover, originally on Elliott’s album Figure 8. Rhett has recorded a version of this, which is on his live from Largo album, The Interpreter. Version from Pico Union is available on YouTube at the link.
- “Jesus Loves You” from Old 97’s album Graveyard Whistling.
- “Barrier Reef” from Old 97’s album Too Far to Care
- “Total Disaster” from The Messenger. Too bad I didn’t record this one, it is one of my favorites from the new solo album. My camera was getting hot though and I was giving it a rest.
- “Longer Than You’ve Been Alive” from Old 97’s album Most Messed Up. Rhett dedicated this one to Jenny O.
Rhett Miller Performs at Pico Union Project - ENCORE: “Trauma Jules” Jenny and Rhett sing her song, which was written after the SXSW tragedy in 2014 in which a man fleeing police had driven a car into the crowd, causing the death of four people and injuring dozens of others.
- “Walls” (Circus)” Jenny and Rhett cover Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. This version available on YouTube at the link.
- “Timebomb” from Too Far to Care Rhett ended with his traditional wrap up song.
“
Rhett Miller has a handful of single albums out, more than twice as many albums with Old 97’s, tours frequently, writes articles for magazines, recently started his “Wheels Off” podcast, and now has a children’s book of poems. This is one hardworking man with a lot on his mind, who deserves your support. Buy his music! Maybe then he can settle down for a year and get that novel written that I know he has brewing inside himself. Rhett’s latest solo album is The Messenger.
