I know, I know. I’m not exactly breaking ground on a new and exciting act that no one has ever heard of before, when I bring up The Old 97′s. Who cares? Even though Rhett Miller and Murray Hammond now call other areas home, Ken Bethea and Phillip Peeples are still Dallasites and the entire crew still see fit to handle the bulk of their recording duties in the state of their origin.

Here’s the thing. They keep tearing it up. Long after the alt.country bands that were lumped in with them in the late nineties have either broken up or changed their line-up a million times, The 97′s have stayed strong. Even if every post-Too Far To Care album hasn’t been a homerun, the fact that many are calling this new album their best one since that seminal, major label debut is still high praise.

Recent months have shown a focused group getting their name back out into the spotlight as they preapre for the release of their upcoming full legth album, The Grand Theatre (New West). A while back, we mentioned the release of their excellent EP of inspired cover tunes, Mimeograph, and also alerted you to a sweet, free deal they were offering for a small collection of some of their best songs in a live setting. Pretty solid way to warm up the masses for the main course, if you ask me. A tour will take place shortly after the October 12th release, and one song in particular will waste no time in informing audiences around the country what state this bands still holds most dear to their rock and roll hearts.

Click on over to their Myspace page and punch play on “A State of Texas.” Residents of Austin and Dallas, especially, will appreciate the local shout-outs to special landmarks and locales, including Cedar Creek Lake and Greenville Ave. While only the denizens of a few, select cities might recognize certain region-specific mentions, all Texans will be able to appreciate the hook-intensive chorus where Miller proclaims, “I’m living in a state of Texas, and Texas lives in me.”

Amen.

Kelly Dearmore is a freelance writer, mean pot of chili maker and opinionated music lover. To read more about what Kelly is listening to, visit him here on The Squawker weekly or daily on his personal music blog, The Gobblers Knob