John R. Miller The Great Unknowing
It seems obvious, if you think about it – time spent away from home (as it tends to increase for touring musicians) leads to a sense of displacement, of unfamiliarity. On his latest album, John R. Miller has found two highly effective ways of dealing with that displacement – record in an unfamiliar city (in this case, Tulsa) to ground those feelings, and include some favorite covers, as well as throwing in a few stylistic switch-ups to represent the music he grew up with. The 16-song The Great Unknowing display’s Miller’s continued mastery of the alt-country genre while tossing a few well-executed surprises into the mix.
Miller elected to record the self-produced (with Adam Meisterhans) record at the beautiful Church Studio, the erstwhile home of Leon Russell and Shelter Records (I’ve toured the facility, and if you’re a music fan who finds themself anywhere near Tulsa, it’s a must). The group of local musicians recruited for the project show up en masse from the album’s first track, the propulsive “Don’t Bet on Me.” Slashes of electric guitar punctuate Miller’s pledge to stay in the moment, mostly because he’s not willing to wager on what’s in the future – “I ain’t making breakfast in yesterday’s kitchen/Ain’t sleeping in tomorrow’s bed.” “A World Away” takes the noisiness even further, evoking Miller favorite Dinosaur Jr. in a stormy squall of guitars as he sings of problems far too familiar to his West Virginia home – “Just out of the hospital/I go down to get my pills/One bottle, one five-hundred-dollar bill/And I’m gonna need a refill.”
Fans of John R. Miller’s deader-than-deadpan humor might find a new favorite in “Day Drinkin’.” The honky-tonker tweaks the rinse-and-repeat nature of a constant imbiber – “Found the dog, plucked a hair” – before digging into the sadness (punctuated by Chloe Edmonstone’s always-excellent fiddle work) that empties the bottle – “I wake up, I go to bed/Try not to do things that I’ll regret/My friends tell me it’s all in my head/And then they all disappear.” The country-tinged centerpiece of The Great Unknowing, though, is “Tollbooth.” Acoustic guitar, pedal steel and just a hint of synth soundtrack Miller’s itinerant musician roadie as he discovers that the desolation of the highway is exceeded only by the desperation of those who tend it – “I think the tollbooth operator’s high/I don’t wonder why.” Along with twangy rocker “Looking for a Place to Die,” with the all-too-true couplet “He lost the job he got with his five-year degree/To some motherfuckin’ robot with a five-year warranty,” Miller’s sharp tongue sandblasts whatever gilding is left off of a country he struggles to recognize, exposing its worst (greed) and its best: its people still surviving – somehow – each day.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Golden Light” – The Tulsa recording sessions went so well that Miller had time to lay down several covers, including Darrin Hacquard’s “A World Away” and
William Matheny’s “If You Could Only See Me Now.” A slowed-down take on Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life” closes the record in an uplifting-yet-contemplative manner, but it’s this anthemic Georgia Satellites cover, from an early favorite band of Miller’s, that tweaked my own memory bank.
The Great Unknowing was produced by John R. Miller (co-producer: Adam Meisterhans), recorded by Gary Laney and Mike Prado (assistant engineer: Cameron J. Martin), mixed by Justin Francis and mastered by Paul Blakemore. Musicians on the album include Miller (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synthesizer, percussion), Paddy Ryan (drums, tambourine, shakers), Aaron Boehler (bass guitar, bass synth, background vocals, percussion), Adam Meisterhans (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion), John Fullbright (grand piano, organ, Wurlitzer, Mellotron, Moog synth, accordion, acoustic guitar, percussion), Brady “Muskrat Jones” Henrie (pedal steel, Dobro, percussion), Chloe Edmonstone (fiddle, background vocals, percussion), Erin Rae (backing vocals) and Mike Prado (percussion).
Go here to order The Great Unknowing (vinyl and CD with download card out June 5, streaming July 17): https://rounder.com/collections/john-r-miller
https://ffm.to/jrm26tgu
Check out tour dates here: https://jrmillermusic.com/#tour
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: REVIEW: John R. Miller “Heat Comes Down”