Buddy Miller: Cruel Moon, HighTone, 1999
Honky Tonk for the new millennium.
Buddy Miller enjoys a well-deserved reputation as sideman par excellence, having worked with Steve Earle, Shawn Colvin, Jim Lauderdale and Emmylou Harris. He’s also released a pair of alt-country discs that were a breath of fresh air, rivaling his employer’s best efforts.
Everything more or less stays the same on Cruel Moon. Strong originals and smart covers, including the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil chestnut ‘I’m Gonna Be Strong.’ The song gets a remarkable makeover, into a plaintive cry only hinted at in the original Gene Pitney hit. The Staple Singers’ ‘It’s Been A Change’ is likewise given a whole new reading.
But it’s the original songs that stand out. Covered by the likes of Brooks And Dunn, Dixie Chicks, and Lee Ann Womack, Buddy beats them all for authenticity. Womack, who sang ‘Don’t Tell Me’ on her second album, has tracks from both Buddy (‘Does My Ring Burn Your Finger’) and Julie (‘I Know Why The River Runs’) on her latest disc, I Hope You Dance, released this month. In the April issue of ICE she spoke of her admiration for Miller’s work: “I’m almost embarrassed for anybody to hear mine after hearing his.”
Dealing with the darker side of relationships, songs like ‘I’m Not Getting Any Better At Goodbye’ come across like a country cousin to Richard and Linda Thompson’s groundbreaking Shoot Out The Lights. In this case it appears the Millers manage to keep the angst to the music. In an interview with NPR, Julie made it clear their inspiration comes from the sad songs of the Louvin Brothers and Stanley Brothers.
Both discs were recorded at the Miller’s home studio. The arrangements sparse, the sound pristine, capturing things as they went down, with an intimacy that’s missing from the majority of big budget releases.