Scott Miller

Scott Miller’s name always comes up in any discussion of the amorphous musical movement that flies under the pirate flag of alternative country. True to the movement’s indefinable parameters, Miller doesn’t much care whether he’s flat-picking an acoustic or flailing a Tele turned to 11 (that’s a Fender Telecaster electric guitar, for all you uninformed). One minute he’s delivering a song such as “Dear Sarah” that sounds like it’s bounced around the hills since the Civil War, the next he’s doubling back on a hairpin curve with a track such as “Goddamn the Sun” that takes us into the bowels of a raunchy garage band that can rock your socks off. Truth is, Miller’s musical tastes cover huge swatches of Southern music and what makes his work so exciting is a quick-witted ability to reinterpret and extend the musical traditions to which he pledges allegiance. Miller’s “Ciderville Saturday Night” steps through a hole in time and combines the best elements of Sticksville country with the smarts of a 21st-century Ph.D. He has a singular lyrical gift that makes deep tracks such as “I’ve Got a Plan” or “The Way” especially memorable. And when Miller gets religious with tracks such as “Is There Room on the Cross for Me,” even the agnostics and nihilists find themselves singing along.