Scott Miller
Scott Miller gets some love from John Nova Lomax in the latest Houston Press. Lomax seems to like Miller's latest effort. I haven't quite made up my mind on it. It's good, but it's kind of all over the place. Some of it reminds me of the style of a young Joe Ely (and that's certainly a compliment), although I don't think Miller counts Ely as any sort of influence. He seems to be getting some good press with it.
This is kind of amusing:
One song does appear on Upside Downside that even predates that era: the rowdy rocker "Pull Your Load." Of it Miller writes in the liner notes: "I had just come home from my first year away at school and wrote a song that sounded like a kid who had just had freshman English -- I think it even made reference to Samuel Beckett." ("Sartre and all that shit -- I was all about it, baby! Enlightened!" Miller tells me.) "I then walked out of a room into a speech by my father about how I needed to get some real work done around the farm. I turned around, went back into my room and wrote this."
And elsewhere, Lomax writes this:
Miller turns away from Beckett and Sartre these days. Thank God.Ha ha ha! Shades of Max Camus Stalling. But at least Miller's gotten it out of his system.
I can't wait to see Miller next Wednesday at Rudyard's. When he finalized his (all too rare) Texas swing a few weeks ago, that date immediately went on the pda. This should be good.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/27/03 22:10 | Music | Technorati
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Comments
I agree about the all-over the place nature of his new disc. When I sampled it online, it struck me as very schitzophrenic. Too bad, because he's grear. I'm not sure what his difficulty is about transfering his live show to disc. But, I see the same problems for Todd Snider and Roger Clyne (of the Refreshments.) Todd Snider threw down one of the best shows I've ever seen, but the studio versions of the material he played were just big wuss-fests.
Let us know how the show turns out.
Posted by Dave @ 08:57 on 08/28/03
I'm hoping to get a recording of this one. If that turns out okay, I'll send it along to ya!
Posted by Kevin @ 10:11 on 08/28/03
You rang a bell - remember me mentioning the Cosmic Dust Devils from the festival? Well, the lead singer actually said these words by way of introduction: "I wrote this song back in college. It was inspired by a book called 'The Teachings of Don Juan', by Carlos Castenada. I hope you like it..."
I would have vomited over the side of my golf cart if the damn song hadn't been great. Still and all -- I don't think I said anything to him about it, but I couldn't help grinning a secret grin when I shook his hand.
We really need to start a collection of these things. Maybe write a book...
Posted by Scott Chaffin @ 17:38 on 08/28/03
Scott, that is too funny! Ya know, we should do a book. Maybe some sort of Texas music/cooking/icehouse/travelogue sort of thingy. I think this has potential! Your site has lots of readers. And, well, I have family who occasionally visit mine. That should make for effective marketing, no?
Posted by Kevin @ 21:48 on 08/28/03
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