Here's a question for a rock band: if your new music sounds like your old music, are you "returning to your roots" and "doing what you do best," or are you just treading over old ground? With their new album, Old 97's [ tickets ] could make arguments either way.

Clearly, with these songs, the Texas-bred band gets back to what they did early on, before their previous two, poppier albums. Here, on an actual 8-track recording, you'll find the same twangy, boot-stompin' sound that helped the band create the term "alt-country."

For the most part, it works. The opener, "Won't Be Home," and nod to the yearbook line, "Friends Forever," both closely resemble early 97's songs, sometimes echoing everything but the lyrics. But as their fans know, the band's words can have a huge effect: from "she was a thin girl, but she had substance," to "looking down she tells you things are looking up," these guys love to craft clever, English-major-geeky, lyrical combinations.

But the songs that bring back the old sound without a new take fall short. Much of the middle of the album blurs together, only giving way with the one completely fresh song, "The New Kid." This tune--whether it's a rant on aging in the music industry (lead Rhett Miller wailing, "The new kid, he's got money/ The money I deserve") or just a jangly first single--shows that a little something new can still go a long way.