Read our review of Scott Miller’s new CD Ladies Auxiliary
By Rob Dickens
The Artist
Scott Miller
The Album
Ladies Auxiliary
The Cover
The Release Date
November 3 2017
The Label
F.A.Y. Recordings
The Introduction
In the 1990s, Scott Miller was a member of the very vibrant Knoxville TN-based outfit the V-Roys. The band impressed Steve Earle who signed them to his label E-Squared. Not long after, both label and band were gone. Having survived a health scare, Miller headed for his family’s Shenandoah Valley ranch and embraced the life of a cattleman. Between his post V-Roys band, The Commonwealth and his solo outings, he has amassed an impressive ten albums. Ladies Auxiliary has, however, taken four years to poke its head out.
The Background
The album name reflects the female help he received in bringing life to his songs. Bryn Davies on bass (a regular for Darrell Scott), Rayner Gellert and Deanie Richardson’s fiddle, Anne McCue on guitar and banjaroo, Jen Gunderman piano and Megan Carchman on drums. Comprising ten songs, there are eight originals (one a co-write with Robin and Linda Williams), a cover of Bill Monroe’s tune ‘With Body and Soul’ (by Virginia Stauffer) and Dave Kinney’s razor-sharp ‘Mother-In-Law’.
The Recording
So impressed was Miller by McCue’s playing, he also enlisted her as producer, to great effect. The songs were recorded at Wild Chorus Studio in Knoxville and Flying Machine, Nashville.
The Quote
“I wanted to call this record Thalia and Melpomene after the Greek muses (the smiley/frowny faces of the theatre) but my manager Kathi Whitley said, ‘You call this record THAT and I quit.’” **
The Clip
Here’s a live take of one of the new songs ‘Lo Scientology, Spanishburg, WVA’ at Music City Roots out of Franklin TN.
The Track List
- Epic Love
- This River’s Yours/This Valley’s Mine
- Jacki With An Eye
- Someday/Sometime
- Mother-in-Law
- Ten Miles Down The Nine Mile Road
- Middle Man
- Lo Siento, Spanishburg, WVA
- With Body and Soul
- Get Along, Everybody
The Verdict
How can this be?? Scott Miller has been nose-to-the-grindstone honing his considerable skills and putting himself in the spotlight for over a decade and it takes until now for us at Listening Through The Lens to get his gold-standard musical message. Fortunately producer Anne McCue directed my attention to this album and what a joy it is to behold.
The opener ‘Epic Love’ has everything – a wonderful love story, passionate vocals, bewitching bass and delicate piano. Embrace the reflective ‘Someday/Sometime’ with its rising chorus, the wry observations of the lilting ‘Ten Miles Down The Nine Mile Road’, the paranoia of ‘Middle Man’ and the humour of ‘Jacki With An Eye’ and ‘Mother-In-Law’. The fiddles of Gellert and Richardson infuse the album with ethereal qualities, with McCue’s multi-talented guitar and banjaroo chops enhancing everything she has a go at.
We now know about Scott Miller.
We now know that he is an outstanding talent.
We now know that Ladies Auxiliary is a wonderful collection of keen insights, music performances and arrangements.
**PS Thalia and Melpomene do however rate a dedication on the liner notes
Read our review of Scott Miller’s new CD Ladies Auxiliary
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