ALBUM REVIEW: Patience Pays Off in the Making of Miles Miller’s Debut

To hear Miles Miller tell the story behind his single “A Feeling Called Lonesome” is, on the surface, to hear a burgeoning songwriter describe why his song about love lost required a full decade to complete. Despite feeling the “aftermath of all the emotion hanging around” shortly after a relational break, it was only after he’d really lived with the ghosts of that loss and the reality of that grief that he felt “able to finish it,” he explains in a press release describing the making of the song.

But in explaining the songcraft, Miller also gives us a glimpse into the surprising young man behind it all. Despite officially making his debut with Solid Gold, Miller’s compositions somehow carry themselves with a weathered maturity and seasoned instincts — like knowing a song needed 10 years to marinate before getting it right. These songs are new, yet lived-in, like a favorite pair of new jeans that somehow feel like they’ve been in your closet all along.

Miller comes to us via famed producer Dave Cobb, who discovered him playing drum covers as a teenager on YouTube. Before long, Miller was a touring drummer for the likes of Sturgill Simpson and Town Mountain, Blackberry Smoke and Tyler Childers. However, when the pandemic slowed the pace of life for everyone, Miller was forced to wrestle with his own artistic statements since he could no longer support those of others on the road.

Miles Miller (photo by Justin Cook)

Solid Gold is the resulting set of songs, produced by Simpson, and it’s an impressive, assured collection from the jump. The title track introduces us to Miller’s lovely tenor vocal, but even here, Miller steps aside to allow his players plenty of time in the spotlight as well. Of note on the album overall are exemplary turns on the acoustic guitar from Miller and Mark Howard and piano from Mike Rojas.

Miller’s frame of mind changes throughout Solid Gold, giving us a vulnerable glimpse of this new artist. He pleads for the return of his sanity (“My Sanity”) at the album’s midpoint (“I’m losing love, I’m losing hope / I’m losing everything that I know”). By the album’s end, songs like “Seeing Clear” and “Always November” harbor tough lessons about life’s fairness, but at least Miller has come to terms with it all. It’s a privilege (and pleasure) to meet him at both moments, a three-dimensional individual offering a real introduction.

For the many things that work here, the real highlight is “Where Daniel Stood,” a simple song with surprising emotional heft akin that turns Miller into something of a bard or minstrel. “I can feel it / I believe it does me good / To travel down that lonesome road to stand where Daniel stood.” Even without definition of details for the listener, the song feels like a special composition on a debut that’s already solid gold.

Miles Miller’s Solid Gold is out July 7.