John R. Miller: Depreciated
Photo by Lisa Sullivan
With a simple name and veins flooded with creative magic, John R. Miller has etched his brand across the musical landscape, demonstrating this gift with his solo debut album, Depreciated – an eleven-chapter odyssey drenched in talent. Throughout the years, Miller has gained notoriety amongst the explosion of musical brilliance smoldering from the Appalachian foothills and the streams of the Shenandoah Valley. With bands including Prison Book Club, The Fox Hunt, as well as The Engine Lights, Miller continued to grow and fine-tune his craft, which is exemplified though Depreciated – each track penned by the dusty backwoods poet himself.
Gathering from personal experiences and fueled by Miller’s wandering van tromping about the countryside, Depreciated offers a sound that captures much of the influences that played through Miller’s own speakers – an eclectic and genre-bounding balance.
“The first music I remember becoming attached to as a young kid were CCR, The Beatles, The Beach Boys…stuff my dad had on the car stereo a lot. It sounded like magic to me, trying to figure out how the sounds were created, and how songs were structured,” says Miller. “I loved hip hop and R&B from early on as well. But I didn’t really start getting into learning guitar and singing until I was a teenager, listening to bands like NOFX, Lagwagon, Jawbreaker… melodic punk kinda stuff, it sounded (at the time) like a version of the music I grew up with, but maybe more relatable to my ears at the time.”
These tastes eventually grew toward the EMO side of the street, including the likes of Jets to Brazil, The Get Up Kids and Mineral – and this path eventually led Miller to the power of lyrics.
“I think the song in general has always just been a means of creative expression I’m naturally attracted to, and when I got older I found my way into the music of John Prine, Townes, The Replacements, Mississippi John Hurt, Michael Hurley, Lucinda Williams…and old-time fiddle tunes and bluegrass became my world for a little while, too.”
From the opening track, “Lookin’ Over My Shoulder,” Miller tells the tale of returning to an old familiar place, hoping word hasn’t gotten back to “her” about his return. It is a quick introduction into Miller’s simplistic style of wording, combined with the dirty, smooth drawl of his vocals, which rolls nicely into the song “Borrowed Time,” perhaps the catchiest tune on the album.
“This was the most intentional and purposeful record I’ve ever gotten to make, and the first one of my own I’ve gotten to do live with the whole band in the room together. That’s something I’ve always wanted to do in that way, and getting to work on it with the road band and my old friends, Justin Francis and Adam Meisterhans (Producers), in a really good studio was such a wonderful experience,” Miller said, speaking of the historic Studio A of Sound Emporium, located in Nashville.
“Coming Down,” makes an appearance and serves as the heart of the album, again, solidifying Miller’s capabilities as a professor of word and soul. And do not miss “Shenandoah Shakedown,” which is a tremendous demonstration of groove-setting sound, brought to you by the talents of Miller’s guitar, along with Meisterhans’ own strumming and Francis providing congas and Wurlitzer. Chloe Edmonstone saws at the fiddle, John Looney on mandolin, Jonathan Beam plucks bass, Russ Pahl on pedal steel, John Clay on drums and Robbie Crowell playing Wurlie and Hammond B3.
“Back And Forth” weaves the story of a gal who loves to dance, growing in the moonlight and ever searching for love, despite the history it has dealt her.
“And it’s back and forth in two-steps and waltzes
Dragging her heart behind through all the songs
If anyone knew the pain she’d been hiding
They’d never think she was doing wrong
There are a few who claim she’s just an angel
Wearing a clever disguise
And if you could see past her old broken halo
She might take your hand for the night”
It’s obvious that Depreciated will continue to cast Miller into the forefront, solidifying his place amongst the masters of song; chiseling one beautiful verse at a time. As for the future, well that’s quite simple for Miller, too. “Hopefully I just get to keep making records with my friends and traveling around in vans seeing cool places and meeting nice people. But it’s never easy to tell how things will shake out.”
Do not miss out on John R. Miller – this is some legendary stuff at work right now, right here, before us all.
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