There are very few people like Scott Miller, which is truly a shame. His talents have yet to lead him to the fame and fortune he may deserve, but he has not given up. He is now standing alone, on his own label, putting out his new release titled “For Crying Out Loud,” which is set for release on April 14th.
“It has not been easy, but it was time I did something. I truly believe doing it this way, at least for me, was a no brainer. With the opportunities available today, why should I just hand over my hard to earn money to a label? I can do quite a bit of the work on my own, and keep more for myself that way,” Miller said from his Knoxville, TN. home. “Time will tell if I am as smart as I think I am,” he laughs.
In order to get everything rolling for his new project, Miller decided to allow his own hard core fans to help. “I decided to press 1,000 promo copies of some new music and sell them to finance the initial startup for the new record. I actually had to increase it to 2,000 because it went so well. I was able to pay for making the disc, paying the band, and some other promotion stuff you have to do. At least I know I have 2,000 fans out there somewhere that likes me.”
Miller was raised in rural and hilly Virginia, on a large cattle farm. He was introduced to music early in life by a father who played trumpet. “My dad played trumpet in like big band era stuff. Music was always playing in the house when I was growing up. Stuff like Ella Fitzgerald, Les Brown, which I appreciate now, but not when I was 12 or 13 years old. I wanted to hear rock and roll. Although I will say even then, I could appreciate talent and a well written song.”
One thing Miller fondly recalls growing up is the hills. “I didn’t want to see another hill for a long time, because the farm was on this big hill. It was no fun chasing round hay bales down a hill,” he laughed. “Trying to heave a 75 pound bale of wet clover up a 45 degree angle hillside was not much fun either. It kicks your ass. I would like to get back to a farm someday, but I want a farm where it was freakin’ flat and square. My dad is in his eighties now, and he is still in relatively good health. It has always been in the back of my mind to go back to a farm. My wife is from West Virginia, not far from where I grew up in Virginia. So if this all works out, that may be a good goal for me someday.”
Selecting music as a career came pretty easy for Miller. “I didn’t know of anything else I could do. I always played and sang,” he laughed. “I graduated from college in 1990 with a major in Russian Soviet Studies. I guess I thought that sounded like something cool at the time. You know that ended up being a program for the NSA, kind of like spy training. You learn the language and the culture. I still enjoyed it, though. Russian literature kicks ass. Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote some amazing stuff like “Crime and Punishment”, “Poor Folk”, and “The Gambler.” The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, so I guess I missed my spy opportunity. Music was better than nothing.”
Miller has drawn a great deal from his past, including some musical legends, and others which may surprise you. “I went just like you should, from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan, John Prine, Paul Simon, all of the wordsmiths. Then Roger Miller completely changed my whole mind on music. One that might surprise some is Al Stewart. You have to dig deep, but some of his early stuff was based on historical stories, and I liked that. Someone asked me once, “So you write history songs like Steve Earle?” I said, “No, I write real ones like Al Stewart used to.” “Road to Moscow” and “Manuscript” were great historical songs.”
Miller’s early music remains obscure, in fact it is mostly completely unknown. “I wrote a lot of murder ballads and stuff like that and recorded them under the name Curtis Jenkins. I have this old book called “Love Letters and Bad Men,” and I used to write a lot about murders and stuff, so much so it may have made a few people a bit uncomfortable,” he laughed. “I sort of had this fascination with stuff like that in my younger years, listening and reading all of these great murder ballads and such. My town Knoxville is the home of one of the great story songs, “Knoxville Girl.” Red Rector is a great musician from here as well. For some reason, Knoxville has never got the credit it deserves.”
We get a glimpse of this fascination on the new record with “Double Indemnity.”
“It is loosely based on the old picture of the same title, which was written and directed by Billy Wilder. Great movie. Anyway, there was a picture in “Love Letters and Bad Men”. I think everybody has seen at one time or another, but this picture is from the 30’s or somewhere in there. This camera man had strapped a camera to his calf, and got the only known live picture of a guy getting electrocuted in the chair. It is really blurry, but it was the best he could do I guess. The picture is taken of the guy in the case the movie is based. So, I started reading more about this case, and it started to intrigue me. This woman was a cougar. Found this younger guy, and got him to kill her husband. Then she flipped on him, and walked away free. I thought it sounded like a pretty good song.”
The initial cut on the new CD titled “Cheap Ain’t Cheap (For Crying Out Loud)” sets the tone for this record very well. The writing and instrumentals all bond together to create a song that will stick in your head and have you singing along before you realize it. The band, which includes Shawn McWilliams on drums and percussion, Jeremy Pennebaker on guitar, and Chris Autry on bass, do an exceptional job throughout. The title cut certainly strikes home with today’s financial woes as well.
“When I wrote this one, I was pissed at the time too,” he laughs. “I knew this stuff was coming. Honestly, I can remember first year Bush administration, and it was probably even post 9/11, Bush was out in front of the White House for some sort of news conference and they were bragging about how home ownership was up in this country. Highest it has ever been. I remember screaming at the TV,”That’s because they are lending out money like they are freakin’mad.” I knew somewhere this was all going to catch up and collapse. It was all bull shit from the start, and they got what they created on their own.
It was also bull shit that I did like 170 dates in 2007 and everybody made money but me, and that is where the song came from. I was sitting there doing my taxes and thinking “What the fuck!” So I sat down and said to myself, step one I need to get away from the label and start my own. Less money that is going into someone else’s pockets, which is a good thing for ol’ Scotty Miller.”
Following up the title cut, is another upbeat prophetic song titled “Sin In Indiana.”
“I got the character names in the song from exit signs on the highways all across several different states. As I was writing it, I was thinking “Sin In Illinois” just doesn’t roll off the tongue smoothly,” he laughed. “I kind of had this idea in my head about the Midwest, and that the reason why New Orleans is so crazy is because all of the sin gets washed straight down the Mississippi River through the Midwest to there. It all starts in Minnesota and washes straight down there. The watershed of sin.”
There are guest appearances on the new record by Tim O’Brien, who sings background on the Tom T. Hall classic cover “I Can’t Dance,” plus the amazing vocals of Patty Griffin on the touching “I’m Right Here, My Love.”
“I had met Patty a few years ago when she was on my record Upside Downside. She sang on that record when I wrecked with her in my car,” laughs Miller. “I was so excited to have Patty Griffin riding with me in my car. I was talking away and ended up hitting someone in the back end. She yelled look out, and that was it. Guess I made a pretty good impression.”
“I’m Right Here, My Love” holds special significance for Miller. It is a touching song about losing someone close to you, and the emotions one goes through at that time. “This time last year, my father in law died. He was 85 years old, and had every ailment known to man it seems. My wife’s parents are from West Virginia, and we had helped a great deal in taking care of them. He ended up having a stroke, which led to him being unable to swallow. They were married for 65 years, and they had met when they were in 7th grade. Can you imagine that? What a bond. Just amazing. Five children, WWII, Korea, he was a West Virginia dentist…go ahead and make your jokes” he laughed. “Plus, my own mom runs a hospice group back home. You learn that you want someone to fight for their life, but when they have to let go you do not want them to feel like they failed. So, it is pretty powerful stuff, being with someone during their last minutes of life. They will see each other again soon though, I am sure. That is kind of what this song is all about. When Patty heard it, she wanted to record it with me. I said “Killer, lets go.”
The only cover on the new record is the Tom T. Hall “I Can’t Dance,” which O’Brien helps out on. Miller does a great job with his own rendition here. “I have always liked Tom T. Hall, and honestly don’t think he has ever received the respect he deserves. I was listening to this box set of his music, and that song stuck out for me. He is a very underestimated singer.”
The final cut on the CD titled “Appalachian Refugee” almost never made an appearance here, but it is a great addition. This is yet another touching song Miller is able to showcase his talents.
“The song was on the DVD, and I had done a version with Tim O’Brien. We did sort of a bluegrass version of it. It was on the final list for the new CD, but I thought it sounded just a little tinny. So at first I thought lets just leave it on the DVD as is, and not include it here. The song is about my father in law too, by the way. I just decided to add the original demo version on the record, plus made it a free download.
Miller is currently working on a few updates that he hopes will help spread the word on his music. “There is this new web site I found called Reverbnation. It is free, and a great tool for any independent artist. You can sell your music through there for free. That just opens up everything for me. I can maybe start taking my old Curtis Jenkins stuff and put that out there now. They never got released, which is probably a good thing for me,” he laughed. “If I can put individual songs up, I may start releasing some of that stuff. I made a number of records. One called “Scardy Dog”, one called “Bird Songs,” and a couple others. It is probably not stuff I would like to have out, but hell it rhymed. Reverbnation also helps you do your digital downloads, organizes your fan lists, it does quite a bit. It will update your tour schedule to your MySpace and personal web site automatically. I love that. We also recently updated my own web site, getting rid of the old typewriter and replacing it with an Apple II.”
One other novel approach for Miller is that he encourages taping at his live shows. “The more people that can spread the word, the better for me it is in my opinion. I know the big labels don’t like it, but for people like me, I need all the publicity I can get.”
Miller will be hitting the road very soon to promote his new release. “Got to pay the bills and keep ol’ Scotty Miller out of debt. I would consider myself a success if I still have fans, and do not owe money to anybody,” he laughs. “We are planning another train tour. This is the 30th anniversary for Amtrak Crescent, so they are doing some promotions for that which works out good for me.”
As for potential tour partners, Miller is open to anything. “I would love to have another tour where I can hit some larger theaters and catch a larger audience. If not, we will keep working hard just like always. Tell John Prine I am ready if he needs an opener though,” laughs Miller.
Miller is keeping his options open for future projects as well. He would like to work more with Doug Lancio, who also contributed slide guitar and mandolin on the new record. “I respect Doug a great deal, and would love to work with him on a complete record soon. Who knows, I may release a whole record of murder ballads,” he laughs. “Right now, I got to concentrate on getting this new record out, and see if this new plan is going to work or not.”
If the new CD is any indication of his new plan, we are all in for a great ride. The CD has a very appealing mixture of all genres, and when you add the talents of the Commonwealth Band, along with a few quality guests, Miller has established solid footing for what should be a very successful venture.
One of the signs of a well produced album to me is when the producers are able to find the right mix of music and vocals and highlight the strongest part of the music. Appropriately the music on these great tunes supports the great vocals without overpowering or stealing the spotlight from them. Some of the highlights are Black T-Shirt and Tumbleweed Stew, on which Slaid wonders, “Where can a good man go crazy? Where can a cowboy get stoned?”
