Roger Miller

American country singer, guitarist, and songwriter

• Born: January 2, 1936
• Birthplace: Fort Worth, Texas
• Died: October 25, 1992
• Place of death: Los Angeles, California

Miller was a successful country songwriter in the 1950’s, composing hits for other singers. Later, he charmed listeners by singing his folksy, humorous songs in his twanging voice.

The Life

Roger Dean Miller’s father, Jean Miller, died of spinal meningitis when Miller was one year old, and his mother, Laudene Holt Miller, was in her twenties. Unable to care for her three sons, Laudene parceled them out to three of Jean’s brothers, and Miller moved in with Armelia and Elmer Miller on a farm near Erick, Oklahoma. He walked three miles to his tiny school every day, and he spent the rest of the time picking cotton or working the land. A dreamy, lonely child, he found some solace in his imagination.

His early introduction to music came from Sheb Wooley, an Erick native who was married to Miller’s cousin. Fifteen years older than Miller, Wooley had the same ambitions, and together they listened to Grand Ole Opry and the Light Crust Doughboys on the radio. Wooley taught Miller his first chords on the guitar, and he bought Miller his first fiddle. Desperate to own a guitar, Miller stole one, but he turned himself in the next day. Offered enlistment in the Army instead of jail, Miller joined the armed services. After service in Korea, he was stationed in Fort McPherson in Georgia, where he played fiddle in the Circle A Wranglers, a group of military personnel musicians, started by Faron Young, who was a private in the Army. After being discharged, Miller headed to Nashville, and he took a job as a bellhop at the Andrew Jackson Hotel. His first record was not a success, and Miller, married by now to his first wife, Barbara, with a child on the way, moved to Amarillo, Texas, and joined the fire department. At a show in Amarillo, Miller met superstar Ray Price, who signed him to sing in the Cherokee Cowboys. Miller and his family moved back to Nashville with Price and started writing songs.

In 1978, Miller married Mary Arnold, who was a musician in Kenny Rogers’s backup band, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. When Miller died of lung cancer in 1992, Arnold became the trustee of his estate.

The Music

Miller became a hot country songwriter in the 1950’s following Price’s hit recording of Miller’s “Invitation to the Blues,” which was also recorded by motion picture cowboy Rex Allen. Marley scored a hit for Ernest Tubb with “Half a Mind” and for Young, who made a Top 10 hit of Miller’s “That’s the Way I Feel.” Jim Reeves took Miller’s “Billy Bayou” to number one, following it a few months later with Miller’s “Home,” which rose to number two.

Before Price had turned Miller’s song “Invitation to the Blues” into a hit, Miller had signed a songwriting deal with Tree Publishing for fifty dollars a week. There he met Buddy Killen, Tree’s manager, with whom he developed a lifelong friendship. With Killen plugging his songs, Miller scored hits for other artists, but he still longed to be a singer. Killen brought him to Decca Records, where he sang a duet with Johnny Little. That song and a second song he recorded with Decca Records were not successes.

Fortuitously, one evening Miller ran into Young, who hired him to be a drummer in his band. While playing for Young, Miller signed a deal with RCA Records’ Nashville office, which was run by guitarist Chet Atkins. Miller’s first recording for RCA Records was “You Don’t Want My Love,” which reached number fourteen on the country-music charts and was later recorded by Andy Williams. He became well known, and he began to tour in his solo act.

By 1963 RCA Records dropped Miller, and his first marriage fell apart. A natural comedian, he was invited to be a guest on television’s The Tonight Show, and he subsequently appeared on other shows. He was thinking of giving up his music career for acting, but Smash Records, a subsidiary of Mercury Records, was growing popular on radio, and it signed a contract with Miller. There he recorded fifteen of his own songs during a two-day session. Of all the songs cut that day, “Dang Me” was a huge hit, and Miller’s career was finally launched.

“Dang Me.” Recorded in January, 1964, “Dang Me” was a hit by June, first becoming known in Seattle and Houston on pop radio, then on jukeboxes all over the country. By the end of June, it was rising on both the country and the popular music charts. “Dang Me” won Miller his first five Grammy Awards including, ironically, Best New Country and Western Artist. It also won for Best Country Song; Best Country and Western Recording, Single; Best Country and Western Album; and Best Western Performance. The lyrics, sung by the persona of a no-good drinker and spendthrift who spends his rent money buying drinks, while his wife and baby sit at home, have the cheerful and robust feeling of many of his songs, ending in “I’m a son of a gun.” “King of the Road.” Recorded in November, 1964, at another album session, “King of the Road” became Miller’s career record. He had written it on the road the previous summer, prompted by a sign he saw outside Chicago: “Trailers for Sale or Rent.” These became the opening words of the song, but in Boise, Idaho, when he noticed an itinerant in an airport gift shop, he was inspired to write the rest of the song, about a hobo who enjoys his freedom riding the rails. Released early in 1965, “King of the Road” became a smash hit, reaching number one on the country-music chart in March, number four on the pop music chart. By May, the single had sold a million copies, becoming a gold record.

Musical Legacy

Miller will always be remembered for his country standards, including such hits as “Invitation to the Blues,” “Half a Mind,” “That’s the Way I Feel,” “Billy Bayou,” and above all “King of the Road.” He was inducted posthumously into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1995.

Dedicated to Miller, a museum in Erick features a collection of memorabilia, with an overview of his life and numerous tapes of his concerts to view. It is located on the corner of Sheb Wooley and Roger Miller boulevards. The museum offers a scholarship to aspiring musicians, publishes a newsletter on its Web site, and holds an annual Roger Miller Festival. Miller’s son, Dean, serves on the museum board and also performs in the concerts.

Principal Recordings

albums:Roger Miller Featuring Dang Me!, 1960; Roger and Out, 1964; Roger Miller, 1964; The Country Side of Roger Miller, 1965; The One and Only, 1965; The Return of Roger Miller, 1965; The Third Time Around, 1965; Wild-Child, 1965; Words and Music, 1966; Walkin’ in the Sunshine, 1967; Waterhole Number Three, 1967; A Tender Look at Love, 1968; Roger Miller 1970, 1970; A Trip in the Country, 1970; Dear Folks, Sorry I Haven’t Written Lately, 1973; Celebration, 1976; Painted Poetry, 1977; Off the Wall, 1978; Making a Name for Myself, 1979; Old Friends, 1982; Green Green Grass of Home, 1994.

Bibliography

Ching, B. Wrong’s What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and American Culture. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2001. A look at the prevalent themes in country music and how they reflect American culture.

Jensen, J. The Nashville Sound: Authenticity, Commercialism, and Country Music. Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 1998. A look at what commercialism has done to authentic country music.

Netti, Bruno, and Helen Myers. Folk Music in the United States. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1976. An informative introduction to the study of folk music as an aspect of culture.

Style, Lyle E. Ain’t Got No Cigarettes: Memories of Music Legend Roger Miller. Winnipeg, Man.: Great Plains Publications, 2005. Miller’s life is recounted in taped interviews with those who knew him personally and professionally, including Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson. The source covers his struggles with drugs and depression.