Dallas alt-country veterans the Old 97’s kept close to home for their seventh studio album, Blame It on Gravity, out today to critical acclaim. Recorded in producer Salim Nourallah‘s Pleasantry Lane Studios, Gravity is being called “a welcome return to form” after 2004’s disappointing Drag It Up.

The Hartford Courant concurs that the Old 97’s are “better for having found their way back,” Pop Matters declares the album “inspired stuff” and Rolling Stone says band members “do their forefathers proud.” Thor Christensen of The Dallas Morning News, who also has written a history of the band complete with Rhett Miller interview, rates the album as “one of their best” while the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Preston Jones says they’re “in fine form throughout.”

You have multiple chances to catch the Old 97’s in their hometown starting Wednesday when they perform sometime between 6 and 7 p.m. outside the south end of American Airlines Center and inside during intermission of the Stars-Red Wings playoff game. The band also appears on the afternoon of May 31 at Good Records and later that night at House of Blues. Give the record a listen here and tell us what you think.

Other North Texas musicians making national news include:

Erykah Badu, whose appearance at Radio City Music Hall last week almost caused The New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones to wet himself.

Tim DeLaughter of the Polyphonic Spree, who wrote the score for the explosive film Visioneers, premiering June 12 at the Seattle International Film Festival.