Buddy Miller Biography

For many years, pop fame has alerted listeners to the entrance of dazzling new faces bearing crucial new ideas to which they must pay attention. Instantly. For the most part, in a nutshell. It implies that there is another way, at least if one is interested in music rather than notoriety. The firm lines in Buddy Miller's face, the emotions in his voice, and the easy inflection of his guitar...all set against words written by and with his wife, Julie, her writing and singing voice twining against his...all testify to the coming of genius. Just not with the weight of youth on their backs. This is how it works: Malcolm Gladwell (the brilliant and best-selling synthesist of the many research that attempts to explain how our brains operate) recently described the findings of David Galenson, a University of Chicago economist who has been researching the age at which brilliance manifests itself to the public. There are two paradigms that develop. In his early twenties, the precocious Pablo Picasso emerged as a fearsome and bountiful genius, but the methodical Paul Cézanne did not have an exhibition of his paintings until he was 57. Gladwell has also promoted the theory that mastery of any talent requires 10,000 hours of practice. This explains Buddy and Julie Miller's modest and steady professional progression. Buddy will be 56 years old when Written in Chalk is released, but his work has been on display since his wife, Julie (who is a year younger), began recording in 1990, and much more so after he began creating his own recordings in 1995. It doesn't matter if his brilliance hasn't yet been generally recognized; the other artists are well aware of it. (There was a reason he was named artist of the decade in the last print edition of No Depression magazine, and it wasn't just the magazine's two editors' erratic humor.) It had something to do with the music. He's been a vocalist and a popular songwriter and co-writer of songs that other people sang, including the Dixie Chicks, Lee Ann Womack, and Brooks & Dunn, among others. Beginning with Julie, he was a multi-instrumentalist and harmony vocalist for a string of famous artists, including Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, and Lucinda Williams. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, most recently. He's also made albums - at the studio he constructed in their house – that was issued independently under his and Julie's names, as well as under their combined identities (as with Written in Chalk). Solomon Burke, Allison Moorer, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore have all released records in that same living area that have received critical praise. Julie took center stage for several years, first in Austin, Texas, where they met (she didn't want the band to hire him), then in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and, ultimately, Nashville, where they moved in 1993, only a few miles from Music Row. Shawn Colvin, Jim Lauderdale, Peter Case, and Victoria Williams became close friends and supporters along the road, and the Millers played in bands with guitarists Larry Campbell and Gurf Morlix, as well as drummer Don Heffington. Slowly, steadily, they worked on their craft. Perhaps with some trepidation, but always working. Julie recorded four albums in the Christian market beginning in 1990, followed by two on the now-defunct roots label HighTone. Broken Things, her most recent album, was released in 1999. Buddy has released five full-length albums under his own name so far, however, Julie's singing and writing voice can be heard everywhere. Then, in 2001, they eventually published a full-length album under both identities. Eight years later, one of Nashville's most well-known creative teams has returned with a new collection of songs. It's a fantastic achievement, all things considered. Both the record and the process of creating it. Julie has had a difficult time. She was diagnosed with fibromylgia (muscle pain, tiredness, and sleep loss) a few years ago and has since had to deal with the effects of a chronic condition. Jeff Griffin, her brother, was hit by lightning while mowing his parents' lawn five years ago. She is a lady who feels intensely, and several of the songs she performs here have a delicate emotional raggedness to them. (With a side of unexpected comedy and delight, as well as unwavering faith.) Buddy, on the other hand, has been quite busy. He was also trying to memorize many dozens of songs he would be playing on tour with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss during the two weeks he set aside to finish this record last spring — initially intended to be just another Buddy Miller album. Also, he needed to recall how to play the steel guitar he'd committed to bring to the concert. In the midst of booking production jobs and the like. It was not completed. Written in Chalk was not completed over the two-week period, despite his best efforts. Buddy, however, put the record aside and returned to the tour, rather than merely completing a deadline and handing in what he had completed. This freed up time and space for a duet with Robert Plant (which they performed for the first time publicly last September as part of the Americana Music Association's 2008 Honors & Awards), and the extra gestation time appears to have empowered Julie to become a full collaborator in the process. (In fact, Buddy has just one co-write, while Julie wrote the rest of the album, with the exception of his well-chosen covers.) Buddy was born into an Air Force family near Dayton, Ohio, and spent much of his childhood in Princeton, New Jersey. Julie Griffin was born and reared in the Texas town of Waxahachie. When he auditioned for a band she was within Austin in 1975, they met. She wasn't immediately taken with him, but they've been married for a long time. Only a few people with such confidence and expertise could risk Written in Chalk's emotional honesty. Only musicians of such renown could assemble collaborators such as Larry Campbell (who has played with Dylan, Levon Helm, and a few others), keyboardist John Deaderick (Dixie Chicks, Mindy Smith), drummer Brady Blades (Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle), and singers such as Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, and that guy from Led Zeppelin. But, in the end, Buddy and Julie Miller were the only ones who could produce a record this excellent.

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