Old 97's The Grand Theater Vol. 2 [Smoke Marble Vinyl]

Old 97's – The Grand Theater Vol. 2 [Smoke Marble Vinyl]

Description

The Grand Theatre Vol. 2, the ninth studio album from Old 97's, returns to vinyl for the first time in over a decade — now pressed on limited-edition Smoke Marble. Released July 5, 2011, on New West Records, Vol. 2 is the sister record to The Grand Theatre Volume One, drawn from the same marathon writing-and-recording process: a week of road-testing new material live at Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas, followed by sessions at Treefort Studios in Austin. Where Volume One collected the most immediate, rock-forward songs from those sessions, Vol. 2 leans into the material that unfolds a little slower — a rare two-part song cycle in the band's catalog, and one that lets frontman Rhett Miller's songwriting breathe in a different way. Rolling Stone praised Miller's "articulate, off-the-cuff songs," noting how the record sits right between "the composure of the control room and the looseness of the barroom." Highlights include "Brown Haired Daughter," the wry character sketch "I'm a Trainwreck," and "Manhattan (I'm Done)," a rare country dig at New York that, as Rolling Stone put it, actually sounds like the singer gave the city a fighting chance before walking away. With thirteen tracks that range from barroom rave-ups to some of the band's more understated songwriting, Vol. 2 rounds out one of the most ambitious releases of the Old 97's career — two albums' worth of material born from a single, prolific stretch of songwriting. Out of print on vinyl for more than a decade, The Grand Theatre Vol. 2 returns here on Smoke Marble for the first time ever in color, completing the Grand Theatre story alongside its companion volume.

Highlights

• Smoke Marble vinyl edition
• 13 tracks

Track Listing

Side A
01. Brown Haired Daughter
02. I'm A Trainwreck
03. Perfume
04. The Actor
05. No Simple Machine
06. White Port

Side B
01. Ivy
02. Manhattan (I'm Done)
03. Marquita
04. Bright Spark (See What I Mean)
05. Visiting Hours
06. How Lovely All It Was
07. You Call It Rain

Format Details

• Label: New West Records
• Genre: Country
• Format: Vinyl

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Country
• Released: 2026-11-27