What would you do if you knew there was a chance you couldn’t continue a career you’ve loved for the past 35-plus years?
That’s exactly what singer-songwriter Rhett Miller faced when he recorded “A Lifetime of Riding by Night,” released Oct. 10, 2025, via ATO Records.
The Old 97’s lead singer went to Dave’s Room in Los Angeles with bandmate Murry Hammond to lay down tracks for his 10th studio album—without knowing if he’d ever sing again. Miller was preparing for vocal cord surgery and went into the studio uncertain about his future.
“Murry was a mentor to me when we made that first record all those decades ago, and this album felt like the right time to work with him in that capacity again,” Miller said in a release about the album. “I gave him carte blanche in a way I never have with any other producer—we went in and recorded 20 songs, and I flew home to New York without even knowing which songs he’d end up using or what the finished versions would sound like. I just let go and trusted Murry completely.”
The 55-year-old Dallas native, who now calls upstate New York home, opens his soul in a new way across the 13 tracks on “A Lifetime of Riding by Night.” That kind of last-chance thinking comes through in his voice and his songwriting.
“There’s a lot of terrifying stories about the type of surgery I received, and I wanted to record the album first because I knew the worst outcomes were on the table,” he said. “I was in a lot of physical pain as I was singing these songs; there are moments when you can hear me really struggling. But as much as I thought about going back and re-recording the vocals once I’d recovered, I knew those imperfections were part of the DNA of the record. To me there’s something very human about a singer trying to sing the best he can despite being compromised.”
From the opening track, “A Little Song (Prologue),” Miller’s timeless quality shines through with just his voice, acoustic guitar and piano:
“Well, I’ve got a little tune that I could hum to turn back time
Back to all our better days and nights
Well now, what a fool
To figure that forever you’d be mine
Well, I wrote a little rhyme to make it right
I found a pretty way to say
That I can’t throw it all away
A little song to make you stay”
That “little song” appears again as an interlude and returns as the 12th track—like a musical motif that holds the album together.
Miller collaborated with a few songwriters on the album, including Jesse Valenzuela of Gin Blossoms on “All for You.”
“When we wrote that song I thought it was for Jesse’s album, so I felt free to speak about love and gratitude with an earnestness I might not usually allow myself,” Miller said. “By the time we were finished I wondered why I’ve placed so many rules and constrictions on my writing in the past, rather than being the most earnest and authentic version of myself.”
While much of the album is deeply introspective, Miller also introduces a cast of worldly characters, like in “Ellie on the Wharf,” which transports listeners to another time and place.
He co-wrote “Come as You Are” with Evan Felker of Turnpike Troubadours.
“That song came together at a time when Evan and I were both wrestling with the difficulty of leaving our loved ones behind to go on tour,” Miller said. “It’s a sweet song but there’s a sadness to it, which feels reflective of the true human condition.”
I love the Dylan-esque stream of consciousness on “Be Mine,” where Miller tells a lasting love story. That same style returns on “People Are Lifted,” which plays out like a movie. The way the song fades out slowly, as if Miller himself is lifted away, is one of my favorite moments.
Miller co-wrote the lovesick “All Over Again” with Nicole Atkins, offering one of the album’s brighter moments.
“Nicole Atkins and I started that song backstage before a gig, and the idea was to write a ’60s-style song that encourages the audience toward positivity,” he said. “It’s a sentiment I’d probably never feel comfortable expressing without being goaded on by an artist I hugely respect, but it turned into something wonderful.”
“I was smiling through a broken nose, on the day when I came in. Pretty girls in dirty clothes, town to town and time again,” Miller sings on “Time Again,” portraying a road-weary traveler longing for a past love.
The album’s title track plays out like a scene from a Western, with a hint of Tom Petty in Miller’s delivery.
“Our dressing room was a cabin and I was watching my bandmates, thinking about all we’ve survived in our 32 years together,” Miller said. “I was probably reading an Elmore Leonard book at the time, and started writing this spaghetti-Western type of song that imagines us as cowboys out on the prairie.”
By the time “A Little Song” returns with full-production treatment, it’s already become my favorite track on the album.
But Miller saves his most vulnerable moment for last. On “Brand New Heart,” his voice cracks over quiet acoustic strumming. It’s a fragile, intimate way to close an intensely personal record.
With “A Lifetime of Riding by Night,” Rhett Miller doesn’t just reflect on his career—he redefines it. It’s a bold, honest record that embraces imperfection and captures an artist still chasing meaning, even when the road ahead is uncertain.
Don’t miss Rhett Miller Oct. 28 at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City and Dec. 11at Union Stage in Washington, DC.
Get “A Lifetime Of Riding By Night” from Rhett Miller, Bandcamp, Amazon, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, Deezer and qobuz.
Favorite Tracks
A Little Song (Prologue)
All For You
Come As You Are
Be Mine
People Are Lifted
All Over Again
Time Again
A Little Song
Brand New Heart
