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Scott Miller

SCOTT MILLER

Feisty, funny singer/guitar-slinger Scott Miller is not a simple study. Raised on a cattle farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, where he expects to return before too long, he writes songs full of rural imagery, and his trademark is the mule. But he also has a degree in Russian and Soviet Studies from William & Mary and can write a rock song with the best of them.

Miller is not much like anybody else we know of. Fiercely independent, he has added graphic artist/fundraiser and entrepreneur to his well-established achievements of singer/songwriter/ace picker/bandleader. He started this latest release, For Crying Out Loud, by demoing up a fresh batch of songs on his trusty old Marantz hard-disc recorder. Then he had the nutty idea of pressing a thousand CDs and creating a different piece of handmade cover art for each one (“I had nothin’ better to do,” he points out). He called it the Appalachian Refugee Demos. Scott’s wife thought he was out of his mind until he made the discs available on his website for 20 bucks apiece and quickly sold every one of them. He then used the 20 grand to pay for the recording of For Crying Out Loud. The Knoxville-based artist gathered his band the Commonwealth

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138
Album Review

Scott Miller - Joe Fonda: Bottoms Out

Read "Bottoms Out" reviewed by Robert Spencer


Bottoms Out features some of the most innovative and imaginative improvisers on the scene today - musicians who have mastered the blues and bop but are also aware of the musical developments of the last thirty years in what is often pejoratively or derisively labeled “free" music. These five performances capture a large ensemble as exciting as any operating these days, playing straight-ahead with fire and extending the range of possibilities with unfailing musical sensibility.

Take the opening, Joe Fonda's ...

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144

Event

Singer-Songwriter Scott Miller To Honor Appalachian Literature As The Keynote Musician At The Mountain Heritage Literary Festival

Singer-Songwriter Scott Miller To Honor Appalachian Literature As The Keynote Musician At The Mountain Heritage Literary Festival

Source: 1888 Media

Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Scott Miller has been chosen as the keynote musician for the sixth annual Mountain Heritage Literary Festival (MHLF) taking place June 24-26 at Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) in Harrogate, TN, just southeast of Cumberland Gap, a historic Appalachian passageway used by Native Americans and later widened by a team of loggers led by Daniel Boone. Miller's appearance at the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival marks a return engagement and a seasoned pairing with MHLF Founding Director Silas House ...

142

Recording

Accolades Continue for Singer-Songwriter Scott Miller's Album 'For Crying out Loud'

Accolades Continue for Singer-Songwriter Scott Miller's Album 'For Crying out Loud'

Source: 1888 Media

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Scott Miller is best known for non-stop touring with his band the Commonwealth, for being one of the founders of the seminal roots rock band The V-Roys and for his eight prior critically acclaimed albums including the recent Appalachian Refugee Demos. In fact, it was with proceeds from Internet sales of these demos made with a Marantz hard-disc recorder (with handmade cover art for each copy) that he financed For Crying Out Loud. The album, released ...

186

Performance / Tour

Scott Miller Steps onto Amtrak for East Coast Tour Dates; New CD out Today, April 14

Scott Miller Steps onto Amtrak for East Coast Tour Dates; New CD out Today, April 14

Source: conqueroo

Miller believes rail travel is not a thing of the past but an underrated way for musicians to tour

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — All over the country, musicians are touring in buses and Econolines. Scott Miller has an idea that’s far more fun, greener and calls attention to a forgotten mode of transportation — trains. On May 9, he will embark on his “Mule Train MMIX” tour by boarding the Amtrak Crescent, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Miller, whose ...

111

Recording

Scott Miller's Next Album Features Help from Patty Griffin, Tim O'Brien

Scott Miller's Next Album Features Help from Patty Griffin, Tim O'Brien

Source: conqueroo

Patty Griffin, Tim O’Brien help Miller start 2009 independently

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Scott Miller is best known for non-stop touring with his band the Commonwealth, and for his eight prior critically acclaimed albums including the recent Appalachian Refugee Demos. In fact it was with proceeds from Internet sales of that album (demos from a Marantz hard-disc recorder with handmade cover art for each copy) that he financed his forthcoming release titled For Crying Out Loud. The album, due out ...

Scott Miller shapes sin and salvation into breathing highway poetry on his recent album ‘For Crying Out Loud.’ AUSTIN-AMERICAN STATESMAN

“Miller and his cohorts have given us a baker's dozen of well-written songs that boast plenty of heart and soul and deserve your undivided attention.” BLURT

“For Crying Out Loud cements Scott Miller's reputation as a national treasure, and brings newfound respect for The Commonwealth, one of the best bands on the road today.” HONEST TUNE

“Miller and the Commonwealth successful combine Southern grit and homespun sentiments into songs that are, by turns, delicate, defiant, whimsical and rebellious.” PERFORMING SONGWRITER

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

For Crying Out Loud

F.A.Y. Recordings
2009

buy

Bottoms Out

Cadence Jazz Records
1999

buy

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