Song Of The Day 6/30/2014: Old 97's - "Intervention"

New Music Week: One of my more treasured alt-country albums is The Old 97's '97 album Too Far To Care, which had a song that should have invaded radio at the time called "Time Bomb." Then they slipped off my radar for awhile, or more accurately my radar broke. Lead singer Rhett Miller went on a five-album solo bender and I just assumed the Old 97's were done, but it turns out they'd been active the whole time and I was making irresponsible assumptions. Won't happen again. Ever. Their new album Most Messed Up was the first of theirs to hit the Billboard Top 30, and it's a ramshackle delight that sounds like the pronouncements of a guy who's gotten much older, so he doesn't really give a shit what you think of his opinion. It is very hard to pull that off and still look lovable, but for me the album more than gets by on that attitude.

I don't want to spoil the surprise of hearing the guffaw-inducing "Intervention," but it's the first time I've heard a song about forcing one of your boys into rehab in which the efforts sounds like an uplifting, punk rock group activity, like printing fliers at Kinko's. "Intervention!" they shout in chorus. There are great lines all over this one. "We're only here because we care about you and we want you to get well," Rhett sings with utmost, annoyed insincerity. And this, which made me snort through my headphones: "Somebody kick him in the sack just to stop his bitchin'/Intervention!" We're gonna have a DT party tonight!