"Now wait a dern minute..." I can hear you guys saying, "....I thought this was supposed to be all about the outlaw country?" Well in my opinion Roger Miller laid the ground work for what became known as "outlaw country". "What?" you say....stay with me here....for one Roger shared and apartment with Johnny Cash in the early 60's, legend has it they took a lot of pills and wrote a lot of songs. Another is he's was one of Willie Nelson's best friends. Did you know Roger Miller was the first person to record Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee"?. Not only that but Kristofferson's first couple of records have more than a subtle hint of Roger Miller influence running throughout. Waylon's obviously a fan too, as he covered Been A Long Time Leaving on the previously mentioned Dreaming My Dreams album. He hung with George Jones during those early years, wrote the song Tall Tall Trees for him (later covered by Alan Jackson). If you're not familar with Roger Miller you are probably familiar with some of his songs. King of The Road has been used in many man movies and commercials, most famously a Burger King commercial from the late 90's. Walking In The Sunshine was used recently for some credit card fast pass commercial that lot's are sure to recognize. Oh yeah and then there was that stint he did in Disney's Robin Hood (probalby my favorite Disney movie), where he voiced the Rooster/Narrater/Balladeer and sang the impossible to get out of your head ooh-da-lally song.
If his song titles don't clue you in, listen to this show and it will become obvious that Roger doesn't take himself too serious. In that affect you could call him the proto-Todd Snider.....definitely a good comparison can be made between the two. Now that we have worked our way up to alt-country, it's worth mentioning that The Sadies & Neko Case have covered his songs, numerous others I can't think of off the top of my head. Anyway, if there is one thing this world needs more of is live Roger Miller...and certainly more Roger Miller talk in the "blogosphere".
An afterthought, in this show, he talks about relaunching his career, sadly he never did as he died a little over a year later on Oct. 25th 1992....RIP
Oh, BTW, this is a killer show, great sound.....when I started listening to it I didn't even realize it was from 1991, I thought it was vintage from the 60's.....his voice sounds EXACTLY like it did back then.
MP3 @ 192
Oops, sorry. Here is the missing track: Roger Miller - Don't We All Have The Right To Be Wrong Now And Then
Posts
Oh man, this is so great. Definitely want to DL this one. Roger is one of the few artists my dad listened to that I truly enjoyed as a kid until today vs. only realizing it later in life. And you are right - his witty lyrics are what bridged the connection to Todd when I first was intro'd to his music. He was gone too soon. Thanks, thanks, thanks.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I just wrote about the greatness that is Roger Miller on my blog The Adios Lounge. There must be some quality maple surple going 'round, I tell ya what. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteThanks, as always, for sharing another great one. have a nice day. Jim
ReplyDeleteThanks for this nice show by Roger Miller. He sure could write a song and was a pretty decent singer at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI cannot get track #8 to download. Tried several times and everytime I unpack the file I get a corruption error on #8. Can you repost that one song maybe?
Great post. Roger Miller was one of a kind. (I'm having the same problem with track 8).
ReplyDeleteyou know Danny Gatton played with roger for awhile..wonder if any shows exist..
ReplyDeletesluggo
Love Roger Miller. I did not know that Danny Gatton played with him. That would be something to hear. I too am having problems with track 8. Please repost that song if you can. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteA pure pleasure !!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this one...
...I have also a problem with track 8
Some smart Broadway producer worked hard to get Roger to write the songs for the musical version of Huckleberry Finn (BIG RIVER). Roger Miller the humorist/humanist was the perfect choice for someone who could inhabit, but not invade, Mark Twain's world.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with Roger Miller's songs as a soundtrack to my youth. As a got older I really heard the depth of his writing beyond his novel approach.
His avoidance of a real shaggy-dog image has kept most from attributing an "Outlaw" status to him, had he grown a beard and looked more un-kept he would have been the Ray Wiley Hubbard of his day.
For those wanting more I highly recommend the box set KING OF THE ROAD: THE GENIUS OF ROGER MILLER.
a single listen to roger`s , One Dyin` and a Buryin` will give you all the outlaw country needed to convince a wary listener...
ReplyDeleteThanks guys, for coming and all the comments. Sorry about track 8 mix up. Not sure how it happened as I have been checking these things but you know what the old folks say....c'est la vie.
ReplyDeleteVRS1943, did you post that because I am so inept :D LOL!
Miller was definitely outlaw and there's a recent outlaw collection (on Timeless)that puts Miller back inside the community.
ReplyDeleteAlso in that community, Jerry Lee Lewis
Thanks for posting this. I had never really heard Roger Miller beyond a few of his more popular songs. I laughed quite a lot throughout...what a funny guy! If you're interested in a mellow, jazzy interpretation of Miller, check out Susie Arioli Band's Learn to Smile Again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this! Ive been a big fan of Roger millers sence i discovered him a few years back, and ive noticed he has several different versions of every song! some sound the same some sound waaay better(not that they could ever be bad) but i am on a desperate hunt for the version of "walkin in the sunshine" that was in that credit card commercial, its not the 'regular' version or any other version ive heard, and i just cant seem to find it. do you have any clue about this?
ReplyDeleteExcellent! I didn't know this album existed. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDelete