at the premiere for the film, and also appear on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings soundtrack. Bottle Rockets then signed with Doolittle records, which later became New West Records. Doolittle released an EP of outtakes from 24 Hours A Day called Leftovers in 1998. About this time, Tom Ray was replaced on bass by Robert Kearns. The Bottle Rockets' fourth full-length record, Brand New Year, was released on Doolittle in 1999. "Power hooks and muscular guitar fights that would make Skynyrd proud" and "'70s power rock with a dirty edge—sort of ZZ Top meets Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Bad Company" is the calling card of Brand New Year. 2000–2005 The Bottle Rockets performed at the Horseshoe Tavern in early 2000. The band again had problems with their record label, and did not record anything else until Songs of Sahm, a collection of songs by Doug Sahm, which came out on Chicago label Bloodshot Records in early 2002. Shortly after finishing this record, Parr left the band. Bottle Rockets toured as a three-piece for a while, and recorded their fifth full-length record Blue Sky (which was released in 2003 on the Sanctuary label), before adding multi-instrumentalist John Horton to the band. Kearns amicably split with the band in the spring of 2005. After a brief search the Bottle Rockets named Keith Voegele as their new bassist. Voegele is from Saint Louis and has played in bands including the Phonocaptors. After the Bottle Rockets' eponymous debut, having a radio hit ("Radar Gun") on their second album, extensive touring, and critical acclaim, the band endured a decade of subsequent hard luck, including problems with record companies, a UPS strike holding up distribution of one of their new records, band personnel changes, and family emergencies. Concurrent with the band's business difficulties, grunge and alternative rock came to prominence. As a result, the music industry effectively abandoned traditional rock artists, in favor of marketing more trendy acts. The path Henneman and the Bottle Rockets had been on seemed to disappear. Despite those struggles, in 2005, founders Brian Henneman and Mark Ortmann got the band back on course, along with the newest additions John Horton and Keith Voegele, the current line-up of band members. The band also re-hired their manager from the early days, Bob Andrews. 2006–2007 The Bottle Rockets' first live album Live in Heilbronn Germany was released in February 2006. The double-disc set was recorded on