Buddy Miller
Encyclopedia
Buddy Miller is a country
singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville
, Tennessee
. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter
Julie Miller
.
Miller formed the Buddy Miller Band, which included singer-songwriter
Shawn Colvin
on vocals and guitar.
In addition to releasing several solo albums over the years, Miller has toured as lead guitarist and backing vocalist for Emmylou Harris
's Spyboy
band, Steve Earle
on his El Corazon
tour, Shawn Colvin, and Linda Ronstadt
. He co-produced and performed on Jimmie Dale Gilmore
's 2000 album Endless Night
.
He has also appeared on several albums by songwriter and singer Lucinda Williams
.
In 2004, Miller toured with Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin
, Gillian Welch
, and David Rawlings
as the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue
.
At the 4th Annual Americana Music Association
Honors & Awards, the Ryman Auditorium September 2005, Miller received the Album of the Year Award for Universal United House of Prayer, and the opening cut of that album, "Worry Too Much" (penned by Mark Heard
, and originally released on his Second Hand
album), won the Song of the Year Award.
Buddy Miller has also produced albums for a number of artists. During 2006 Solomon Burke
came over to Miller's house at Nashville to record his country album 'Nashville' on which Emmylou Harris
, Patty Griffin
, Gillian Welch
and Dolly Parton
appear as duet partners.
He has a signature acoustic guitar made by the Fender company, and frequently uses vintage Wandre electric guitars.
Buddy Miller toured as part of the band on Robert Plant
and Alison Krauss
's Raising Sand
tour of the USA and Europe, and with Emmylou Harris
, Patty Griffin
and Shawn Colvin
on the Three Girls and Their Buddy tour. While on tour, Miller suffered a heart attack
in Baltimore on February 19, 2009 following his performance as part of the MammoJam Music Festival and underwent triple bypass surgery
at Johns Hopkins Hospital
on 20 February.
At the annual Americana Music Association
Honors and Awards program at the Ryman Auditorium
in Nashville, Tennessee on September 18, 2008, Miller received the "AMA Instrumentalist Of The Year" award, which was presented to him by Robert Plant
and Alison Krauss
. Miller was joined by Plant on a performance of a new song "Whatcha Gonna Do, Leroy" from his album Written in Chalk
which was released in March 2009. He also was part of the band for John Fogerty
's The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
in 2009. In 2010, Miller again joined Robert Plant
and Patty Griffin
with Robert Plant's Band of Joy
, touring both the US and Europe.
Miller produced Patty Griffin's Downtown Church
which was released in 2010 and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Gospel Album on February 13, 2011.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Julie Miller
Julie Miller
Julie Miller is a songwriter, singer, and recording artist currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. She married Buddy Miller in 1981...
.
Miller formed the Buddy Miller Band, which included singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
on vocals and guitar.
In addition to releasing several solo albums over the years, Miller has toured as lead guitarist and backing vocalist for Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
's Spyboy
Spyboy (album)
Spyboy is a 1998 live album by Emmylou Harris and her backing band, Spyboy, which she formed for a tour to perform songs from her 1995 career-redefining album, Wrecking Ball. Taking a stripped-down approach, Harris is backed by a power trio comprising country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller on...
band, Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
on his El Corazon
El Corazón
El Corazón is the seventh album by roots rock underground icon Steve Earle, released in 1997 .- Track listing :All songs written by Steve Earle.#"Christmas in Washington" – 4:58#"Taneytown" – 5:13...
tour, Shawn Colvin, and Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
. He co-produced and performed on Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Jimmie Dale Gilmore is a country singer, songwriter, actor, recording artist and producer, currently living in Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
's 2000 album Endless Night
Endless Night
Endless Night is a work of crime fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on October 30, 1967 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at eighteen shillings and the US edition at $4.95...
.
He has also appeared on several albums by songwriter and singer Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, blues and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...
.
In 2004, Miller toured with Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with...
, Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, Bluegrass, and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely...
, and David Rawlings
David Rawlings
David Todd Rawlings is a professional guitarist and singer. He is best known as the longtime musical partner of bluegrass singer-songwriter Gillian Welch.David attended the Berklee College of Music and studied with guitar professor Lauren Passarelli....
as the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue
Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue
The Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue was a three-week concert tour of country and folk musicians Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch, and David Rawlings, which took place in August 2004. The group toured primarily in the American South, but also played in New York City ,...
.
At the 4th Annual Americana Music Association
Americana Music Association
The Americana Music Association is a trade organization developed to provide professional support and to promote awareness of Americana music. Toward these ends the organization works with artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others to create networking opportunities and to...
Honors & Awards, the Ryman Auditorium September 2005, Miller received the Album of the Year Award for Universal United House of Prayer, and the opening cut of that album, "Worry Too Much" (penned by Mark Heard
Mark Heard
John Mark Heard was a record producer, folk-rock singer, and songwriter originally from Macon, Georgia, USA....
, and originally released on his Second Hand
Second Hand
Second Hand is the title of an album by Mark Heard, released in 1991, on Heard's own Fingerprint Records. The album was listed at #4 in the book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music ....
album), won the Song of the Year Award.
Buddy Miller has also produced albums for a number of artists. During 2006 Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
came over to Miller's house at Nashville to record his country album 'Nashville' on which Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with...
, Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, Bluegrass, and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely...
and Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
appear as duet partners.
He has a signature acoustic guitar made by the Fender company, and frequently uses vintage Wandre electric guitars.
Buddy Miller toured as part of the band on Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
and Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
's Raising Sand
Raising Sand
Raising Sand is a collaboration album by rock singer Robert Plant and bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss. It was released on October 23, 2007 by Rounder Records...
tour of the USA and Europe, and with Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with...
and Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
on the Three Girls and Their Buddy tour. While on tour, Miller suffered a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in Baltimore on February 19, 2009 following his performance as part of the MammoJam Music Festival and underwent triple bypass surgery
Coronary artery bypass surgery
Coronary artery bypass surgery, also coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and colloquially heart bypass or bypass surgery is a surgical procedure performed to relieve angina and reduce the risk of death from coronary artery disease...
at Johns Hopkins Hospital
Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland . It was founded using money from a bequest by philanthropist Johns Hopkins...
on 20 February.
At the annual Americana Music Association
Americana Music Association
The Americana Music Association is a trade organization developed to provide professional support and to promote awareness of Americana music. Toward these ends the organization works with artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others to create networking opportunities and to...
Honors and Awards program at the Ryman Auditorium
Ryman Auditorium
The Ryman Auditorium is a 2,362-seat live performance venue, located at 115 5th Avenue North, in Nashville, Tennessee and is best known as the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry....
in Nashville, Tennessee on September 18, 2008, Miller received the "AMA Instrumentalist Of The Year" award, which was presented to him by Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
and Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
. Miller was joined by Plant on a performance of a new song "Whatcha Gonna Do, Leroy" from his album Written in Chalk
Written in Chalk
Written in Chalk is an album by Buddy and Julie Miller, released in 2009. It won numerous awards at the 2009 Americana Music Association awards: Album of the Year and the song "Chalk" won the Song of the Year...
which was released in March 2009. He also was part of the band for John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
's The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
- Tracks not included :There were 15 songs recorded from a long list of songs that Fogerty, Burnett and Waronker put together. Fogerty did not release the specific titles, but a Merle Haggard song was revealed to be among the three unreleased tunes.- Production :...
in 2009. In 2010, Miller again joined Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
and Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with...
with Robert Plant's Band of Joy
Band of Joy
The Band of Joy are a rock band from England. Various lineups of the group performed from 1965 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1983...
, touring both the US and Europe.
Miller produced Patty Griffin's Downtown Church
Downtown Church
Downtown Church is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Patty Griffin, released on January 26, 2010, by Credential Recordings, a Christian label distributed by EMI. The album was recorded in Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville and features different styles. Griffin has stated...
which was released in 2010 and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Gospel Album on February 13, 2011.
Discography
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Label | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Christian | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
US Indie | |||
| 1995 | Man on the Moon (Buddy Miller and The Sacred Cows) | Coyote | |||||
| Your Love and Other Lies | HighTone | ||||||
| 1997 | Poison Love | ||||||
| 1999 | Cruel Moon | ||||||
| 2001 | Buddy & Julie Miller Buddy & Julie Miller Buddy & Julie Miller is a 2001 album by Buddy and Julie Miller. Prior to this recording the husband and wife singer-songwriters had each made appearances on the other's solo recordings, but this disc marked their first official release as a duo. The music has been described as more rock based than... (with Julie Miller Julie Miller Julie Miller is a songwriter, singer, and recording artist currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. She married Buddy Miller in 1981... ) |
45 | 41 | ||||
| 2002 | Midnight and Lonesome | 50 | |||||
| 2004 | Love Snuck Up (with Julie Miller) | ||||||
| Universal United House of Prayer | 64 | 40 | New West | ||||
| 2008 | The Best of the HighTone Years | Shout! Factory | |||||
| 2009 | Written in Chalk Written in Chalk Written in Chalk is an album by Buddy and Julie Miller, released in 2009. It won numerous awards at the 2009 Americana Music Association awards: Album of the Year and the song "Chalk" won the Song of the Year... (with Julie Miller) |
159 | 3 | New West | |||
| 2011 | The Majestic Silver Strings | 37 | 8 | 41 |