Dallas Ain't a Believer

Seems like everybody loves Rhett Miller right now. He's currently one of the "featured artists" at MySpace's music section, where his latest solo album, The Believer, is available to preview gratis. Miller's on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight, and Rolling Stone and some non-music mags, such as Esquire...

By Robert Wilonsky

March 2, 2006

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Seems like everybody loves Rhett Miller right now. He's currently one of the "featured artists" at MySpace's music section, where his latest solo album, The Believer, is available to preview gratis. Miller's on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight, and Rolling Stone and some non-music mags, such as Esquire and Vanity Fair, have had said lots of nice things about his latest solo album. As Rolling Stone puts it, "Give Miller a chance, and he can charm you something fierce."

That is, unless you're from Dallas, because so far, the only people who've publicly come out swinging against Miller have been critics from his former hometown. The Dallas Morning News' "Mighty" Thor Christensen was relatively kind in his C+ review of the disc; his most stinging barb was "File under: Generic Pop-Rock." Fellow Observer writer Noah W. Bailey wasn't so nice. I could duck behind Noah's piece and say, "He said it, not me," but I won't. I fully support every word Noah wrote. In fact, I wish I'd come up with that review. Sorry, Rhett. I still hope that Ranchero Brothers album sees the light of day, though. --Sam Machkovech

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