John R. Miller

John R. Miller is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter whose music has the earthy twang of country, the late-night feel of blues, and the road-worn defiance of rock & roll. A longtime road warrior, Miller earned a reputation as a talented instrumentalist and songwriter backing up other artists before he struck out on his own and found a following for his musical hard-luck stories. He made his bow as a solo artist with the 2018 album The Trouble You Follow, recorded with his backing band the Engine Lights, and offered a more carefully crafted look into his world on 2021's dark but rollicking Depreciated and 2023's warmer and deeply personal Heat Comes Down. Born in 1986, John R. Miller grew up in Hedgesville, West Virginia, a small community in the state's Eastern Panhandle. As a child, Miller didn't have the focus or interest to do well at school, but he was fascinated with music from a very early age and would spend hours in front of the family stereo, hoping to catch a favorite song on tape when it was played on the radio. When he was 14 years old, he found an old classical guitar in a closet that his father owned but never played. Miller, who had recently discovered punk rock, taught himself to play power chords on the instrument, then moved up to an electric when he played in bands during his high school years. During a brief stint in college, Miller developed a taste for traditional West Virginia fiddle music, and a growing interest in folk and country led him to the work of singer/songwriters like John Prine, Steve Earle, and Townes Van Zandt. As he started writing songs, he joined a string band with some friends, and they supported themselves busking in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Miller toured extensively with the bands the Fox Hunt and Prison Book Club and was a sideman with the Hackensaw Boys, William Matheny & the Strange Constellations, and Locust Honey. Life on the road, however, led Miller into heavy drinking, and in 2017, he left West Virginia to settle in Nashville and make a fresh start. Putting himself front and center, Miller developed his own project, performing his own material with a band he called the Engine Lights (car trouble is a recurring theme in his songs), and in 2018, the independent Emperor Records label issued the group's debut album, The Trouble You Follow. The record earned positive reviews and helped spread the word as Miller eased back into the touring lifestyle. In early 2020, he went into the studio with a new group of accompanists to record his second album. While engineer Justin Francis was working on the set's mix, someone overheard the tracks and helped put Miller in touch with the A&R staff at the venerable roots music label Rounder Records. Rounder and Miller struck a deal, and Depreciated was released in July 2021. Miller toured heavily in support of the album as venues were re-opening following the COVID-19 pandemic closures, and once he returned home, he began writing material for his next LP. Heat Comes Down was full of warm, naturalistic songs that reflected his sweetly unsentimental take on country life. Produced by Andrija Tokic and John James Tourville, whose credits included Riley Downing, the Deslondes, Country Westerns, and Alabama Shakes, the album was issued by Rounder in October 2023.
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