Old 97’s singer Rhett Miller has been making the interview rounds of late, promoting his new solo album and getting a lot of questions about his fellow alt-country front men. Miller mentioned recently that he didn’t like being labeled a “pretty boy teen folkie” in the early days, adding that Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy is more deserving of the alt-country heartthrob tag and now he even has praise for his former so-called rival, Ryan Adams.
The supposed feud was initially debunked by Miller last year, when he told Lone Star Music that it “was a manufactured thing” by Ryan Adams. Miller claimed that he rejected Adams’ pleas for a Stones/Beatles-esque rivalry, saying he didn’t “want to base a career on negativity,” but Adams “went ahead and did it.” In a recent Q&A with Paste’s Dan Solomon, Miller put the whole thing to rest and even confessed that he’s a fan of Adams’ latest solo record.
“This song came on the radio, on the NPR station, and I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was,” Miller said. “I just couldn’t believe it, it was so beautiful. And they announced it as being off of Ryan’s new Cardinology record and I thought, ‘Oh, man.’ It’s so funny that there was a bad taste in my mouth for a bunch of years about this feud and I kind of just sat on his music. This guy’s got a lot of talent. He’s done pretty great work.”
Awww. Now maybe Ryan should end his “step back” from music and collaborate with his former imaginary foe.