Buddy Miller

New West

www.buddyandjulie.com

Nashville might not be what it used to be, but the city must have something to recommend it still, because Buddy Miller lives there. Perhaps he serves as a reminder—like better-known friends Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris—of precisely what Nashville used to be: a place where a man like Miller, who ordinarily wouldn’t get noticed walking down the street, could create magic from little more than his throat and his hands.

Earle occasionally has credited himself with big balls (the phrase is his) simply for standing on the same stage with Miller. For his part, Miller, on Universal House of Prayer, displays considerable cojones by taking ownership of both the Louvin Brothers’ “There’s a Higher Power” and Bob Dylan’s “With God On Our Side.” In those two songs alone—the first a bluegrass-brushed gospel number, the second a spark that builds to an all-consuming wildfire in little over nine minutes—Miller encapsulates the best of American faith: its constant questioning doubt, its constant steadfast renewal.

Miller runs through that cycle repeatedly on this album, through the songs of others and through those he writes (with Victoria Williams, Jim Lauderdale, and his wife Julie). Whether pondering his travels on “Wide River to Cross” or considering fate on “Fire and Water,” Miller always seeks redemption, even salvation. His music, which bears the sheen of modern country without the burden of its pandering, lights the way. His voice, which contains the power of experience and the wisdom of the country, carries him home.

 

On October 23, Buddy Miller plays with Emmylou Harris at Lund Auditorium in River Forest (Chicago area), 7900 W. Division St.