Buddy Miller (along with his amazing singer/songwriter wife Julie) was probably the first artist I ever heard anyone describe as “Americana.” It was 1997, and I was reporting a feature story about the emerging radio format. While it was clear this dissident movement was about honoring legends like Johnny Cash and Emmylou Harris, I asked some insiders who was quintessential Americana among current and emerging musicians, and Buddy was a consensus pick.
It’s funny to think of Buddy Miller being an “emerging” artist in the late 90s, because he was already in his 40s at the time. After two decades of playing in bands and backing up others like his great friend Jim Lauderdale, Hightone Records gave the scene-making sideman a deal, and when his debut Your Love And Other Lies came out in 1995, it became a founding document of the alt-country revolution. From there on out, he was - in our circles anyway - a household name. He’s won more Americana Awards than anyone, including the Wagonmaster Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor bestowed on only two other artists- Lauderdale and the award’s namesake Porter Wagoner.
As Nashville readies itself for another Americanafest, with the most sonically diverse showcase lineup ever, to my ears, it seemed fitting to devote Episode 371 of The String to the master we all know as Buddy. I enjoyed a wonderful duo interview with him and Julie in 2019, when we focused on their partnership. When I learned that Buddy was releasing his first solo album in 15 years on the Friday before the convention, I asked for a one-on-one.
At 74 years old, he’s going with the simple and symbolic title Buddy Miller. Of course we already know him, but the self-produced 12-song blend of originals and cherished covers does have its own statement to make. I see it as his great vocal album. It’s Buddy Miller the curator and song collector and interpreter at work, filtering a lifetime of chasing sound and novelty and quality, especially in the particular fusion of genres that gave him his signature sound.
“I thought, I love that point of intersection with where country and R&B meet. And I always sort of live there, but why don't I make it a little more deliberate?” he says. “So I sat down at this table over here where I still work, and just started recording myself singing a lot of the songs that came to me, to see what sounded real and authentic, and songs that I could live in.”
We open the broadcast as he opens the album, with the propulsive and passionate “As Long As I Have You,” a song of devotion that was a hit in 1964 for soul singer Garnet Mimms. The Paul Kennerly song “Strange Desire” becomes a swift vehicle for Buddy’s dark twanging guitar and vocal fireworks with Lauderdale. Steve Fishell’s pedal steel guitar really lights this one up. On the ballad side, Miller makes peace with time and age on the Dan Penn songs “Not Enough Time To Change,” and he sings a duo with that same soul music legend on the Smokey Robinson song “Don’t Look Back.” I also am particularly fond of “Stop Me,” a 6/8 soul ballad by Lauderdale and John Leventhal that surges with emotion vocally and through a gorgeous melding of horns and steel.
The biggest surprise about it, given Miller’s fame for presiding over scintillating live sessions at his home studio in Hillsboro Village, was that this record was tracked in layers, not by a band all at once.
“I love sitting in a room and being, you know, eight feet away from a drummer and staring at them, our eyes locking and playing. But I didn't do that with the band on this,” he tells us. “I wanted it (to be about) the songs and the vocals. I wanted that to be kind of the heart of the record. So I did guitar/vocal demos, or you know what turned out to be the tracks, and had them play to it, because I could listen much better if I'm not playing.”
Besides a deep dive on the new opus, this was my first opportunity to ask Buddy about his foundational musical memories and his teen years, which were packed with live concerts in New York and Philadelphia, including Led Zeppelin’s first US tour and some 60 Grateful Dead shows by the early 70s. Once I heard him hint that he’d seen Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, I brought that up.
“Woodstock seemed like it was going to be something else,” he says. He was 16 at the time. “I went with my girlfriend Tanya and friend Dave, who was a guitar player in my little band we had. And some other good friends. And we brought a tent, and we didn't expect the rain, but we had a big jug of wine, and yeah, Hendrix. I saw Hendrix. Everyone was leaving during his set! But what blew my mind more than anything was Sly and the Family Stone. I'll take that memory with me to my grave. It was transformative.”
We also talk about his key collaborations, his friendship with Dan Penn, and his memories of working with the late star of TV’s Nashville, Hayden Panettiere. For even more Buddy, tune into Jessie Scott’s Tuesday night special tonight at 7 pm (Tuesday, Sept. 15) for a cut-by-cut conversation. He will again lead the Honors & Awards house band and will showcase himself on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 3rd & Lindsley at 9 pm.
