Puremusic Interview with Buddy and Julie Miller  (continued)

BM: Okay, back to the question, then.

PM: Okay. What are you each bringing to the table personally that makes the relationship work?

BM: I bring a certain uptightness, [laughter] I think, that's needed at times.

JM: The necessary uptightness, it's essential.

BM: I can't think of anything else I bring. I get the mail, I tell her who called. [laughter]

PM: Let's try it from another angle. Why don't you each answer the question for the other person, say what it is that they bring to the table.

BM: She helps me to keep my...I can't say focus, because I don't really focus on anything...to keep my God awareness present, instead of getting caught up in all this stupid stuff. That's one of the big things. And she's just a real inspiration to be around, all the time.

PM: That angle works a lot better. So, what does Buddy bring, Julie?

JM: I think I just turned into a little pile of dust... If it weren't for Buddy, nothing would happen. There would be no music. He's the most incredible musician you can meet, he's the inspiration. Most great musicians just want to do things the way they want to do it. He's that rare gifted musician that enjoys facilitating someone else's vision, if they ask him to. We ping pong back and forth with stuff. Julie wants to rock a little bit, and don't play quite as good on Julie's songs. Just use one finger. [laughing]

PM: It's beautiful that both people are saying that the other one is their inspiration. It sounds like there's not a control freak in the crowd. Are either of you inclined that way?

JM: I'm the control freak. I start out saying, "Just do whatever you want to do." But once I'm even slightly involved, I sort of get carried away.

PM: That's interesting, when it's you that, how can I say this without being offensive... [Julie's laughing] is the more otherworldly of the two? Not the guy with his feet on the ground and his hands on the controls.

BM: I'm open to whatever way things are going. Sometimes I have an idea...

JM: He always has tons of ideas. But, as talented as he is, he'll always let someone else say "Well, will you play it this way for me?" at any time.

BM: I just like to get something done.

JM: I have no goal. I don't want to finish an album. I'd rather play, and work on a song endlessly.

BM: But she wrote almost all of this record. When we first talked about it, we discussed doing a record of country duets. We had a couple of songs. But in the end Julie always wants to rock. [she's laughing]

PM: Yeah, that's the thing that surprises me about her. She has that real folk aspect, but then she wants to play the dirty rockers.

JM: [laughing hard] With the voice of a four year old.

PM: Right, she doesn't just want to rock, she wants to go there.

BM: It's all fun, and when we're live, we swing toward the rock side.

PM: This new record is very good, there's some great songs on it. I never knew the incredible story of that Columbine child. Lord... [Rachel Scott, the first student killed in the massacre. Her remarkable story and journal excerpts are revealed in the book that Julie gave me at the end of our conversation, Rachel's Tears, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville. Julie wrote a very moving song about it, "Rachel."]

JM: That book that her parents wrote, with the friends and family that participated in the storytelling, changed my life so much. That's the hardest song I ever had to write. I just cried from beginning to end. At first, I didn't feel like I had the right to even say or do anything about it. But I was talking to a friend of mine, an incredible singer named Kelly Willis, and she said that Rachel's aunt was a close friend of hers, that Rachel's brother had been around the house last year. So I met Rachel's aunt through Kelly, and she said, "Please write this song, it would mean a lot to her family." Then I felt like I had permission, and even the responsibility.

PM: Buddy, I liked what you said in the liner notes about wanting the music to sound like the room it was made in, kinda big and kinda messy, and I think it does. A friend was over listening to the new record, and compared how much easier it was to pick out the lyrics on your records. And I told her that this is how they sound live, but at home. It's a beautiful thing, you just got to let go of that clean idea. [Julie's laughing]

In a day to day sense, what kind of people would you describe yourselves to be?

BM: Well, we've been married a long time [17 years] and have spent very little time apart. So we've developed our own ways of communicating with each other. Aside from that, we're just, you know, checking the mail and going to work.

JM: You're funny. [laughing]

BM: And then, you know, I'm on the phone and stuff. We never got a manager or anything.

PM: You have no personal manager? [Julie's laughing]

BM: I guess we could...

JM: I don't want one. I don't know why...

BM: You don't want one 'cause you're afraid they'll make you do something.

PM: They'd try, at least.

BM: When a new record comes out, I'm on the phone way too much, because I'm doing all that. Coordinating the tours with the booking agent, and all the other stuff I do, there's a lot of working with other people.

PM: You can't like doing all that stuff. I never met a musician in my life that likes to do all that stuff.

BM: No, I don't like it, what's there to like.

JM: He's really good at it, though.

PM: Maybe there's something short of a personal manager that would take a load off, a day to day manager.

BM: I think we're going to bring my sister into that loop. She lives locally, and is real good at that kind of stuff. She works for Gibson, and runs all their big events.

PM: That's beautiful, I love keeping it in the family. Because when you're dead, no one's gonna say, "He was hell on the phone."

BM: "That cat could really book some flights."

PM: What do you like to do when you're not working?

BM: Get the house cleaned up a little, sit down and play some music.

PM: That's nice to hear. So many road musicians sit their guitar in a corner when they finally get home.

BM: I'm slowing down, too. I'm not going to take as many outside things, so we can work more on our songs, our music.

PM: Less touring, or less record production?

BM: Less production, and fewer sessions. I'll never quit doing Emmy Lou tours, unless they fire me.

JM: It's almost comical, what a really nice person she is. She never shows up at the house without food, or flowers, or something. She's very considerate, very thoughtful. When it's time to get on the bus, she gets in the very back. She has no star trip going on whatsoever.

PM: That's a nice thing about the crowd you're running with. You guys don't seem to have an ego between you, and the people you play with are all very nice, mature people. It's rare enough to know musicians in the public eye who don't have a distorted view of themselves.   continue

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