Роджер Миллер: Король кантри-музыки

American country musician (1936–1992)

Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer songwriter, widely known for his honky tonk influenced novelty songs and his chart topping country hits "King of the Road", "Dang Me", and "England Swings". After growing up in Oklahoma and serving in the U. S. Army, Miller began his musical career as a songwriter in the late 1950s, writing such hits as "Billy Bayou" and "Home" for Jim Reeves and "Invitation to the Blues" for Ray Price. He later began a recording career and reached the peak of his fame in the mid 1960s, continuing to record and tour into the 1990s, charting his final top 20 country hit "Old Friends" with Price and Willie Nelson in 1982. He also wrote and performed several of the songs for the 1973 Disney animated film Robin Hood. Later in his life, he wrote the music and lyrics for the 1985 Tony Award−winning Broadway musical Big River, in which he acted. Miller died from lung cancer in 1992 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame three years later. His songs continued to be recorded by other singers, with covers of "Tall, Tall Trees" by Alan Jackson and "Husbands and Wives" by Brooks & Dunn; both reached the number one spot on country charts in the 1990s. The Roger Miller Museum — now closed — in his home town of Erick, Oklahoma, was a tribute to Miller.

Roger Miller was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the third son of Jean and Laudene (Holt) Miller. Jean Miller died from spinal meningitis when Miller was a year old. Unable to support the family during the Great Depression, Laudene sent her three sons to live with three of Jean's brothers. Thus, Miller grew up on a farm outside Erick, Oklahoma, with Elmer and Armelia Miller. As a boy, Miller did farm work, such as picking cotton and plowing. He later said he was "dirt poor" and that as late as 1951 the family did not own a telephone. He received his primary education at a one room schoolhouse. Miller was an introverted child who often daydreamed or composed songs. One of his earliest compositions went: "There's a picture on the wall. It's the dearest of them all, Mother." He then met George Jones, who introduced him to music executives from the Starday Records label who scheduled an audition. Impressed, the executives set up a recording session with Jones in Houston. Jones and Miller collaborated to write "Tall, Tall Trees" and "Happy Child." After marrying and becoming a father, Miller put aside his music career to be a fireman in Amarillo, Texas. Miller then signed with Tree Publishing on a salary of $50 a week. He wrote: "Half a Mind" for Ernest Tubb, "That's the Way I Feel" for Faron Young; and his first number one, "Billy Bayou", which along with "Home" was recorded by Jim Reeves. Miller became one of the biggest songwriters of the 1950s. Bill Anderson later remarked that "Roger was the most talented, and least disciplined, person that you could imagine", citing the attempts of Miller's Tree Publishing boss, Buddy Killen to force him to finish a piece. He was known to give away lines, inciting many Nashville songwriters to follow him around since, according to Killen, "everything he said was a potential song." But Miller soon tired of writing songs, divorced his wife, and began a party lifestyle that earned him the moniker "wild child." He was dropped from his record label and began to pursue other interests. Miller was given his own TV show on NBC in September 1966. It lasted for 13 weeks, and it ended its run in January 1967. During this period Miller recorded songs written by other songwriters. The final hit of his own composition was "Walkin in the Sunshine", which reached No. 7 and No. 6 on the country and adult contemporary charts in 1967. As Brian Carpenter wrote in Southern Cultures, "With its rooftop lounge and accompanying penthouse suite (complete with a swinging double bed), Miller's King of the Road Inn was, for a time, the unofficial center of Nashville's thriving music scene." It is now called the Clarion Hotel Downtown Nashville Stadium. Miller continued to record for different record labels and charted a few songs, but stopped writing in 1978, feeling that his more "artistic" works were not appreciated. It took a year and a half to write the opening, but he eventually finished it. The work, titled Big River, premiered at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York on April 25, 1985. The musical received glowing reviews, earning seven Tony Awards including "Best Score" for Miller. He acted the part of Huck Finn's father Pap for three months after the exit of actor John Goodman, who left for Hollywood. In 1983 Miller played a dramatic role on an episode of Quincy, M. E. He played a country and western singer who is severely burned while freebasing cocaine. The song was released as a single in 1991, peaking at No. 7 on country charts. He began a solo guitar tour in 1990,

Although he is usually grouped with country music singers, Miller's unique style defies easy classification. Many of his recordings were humorous novelty songs with whimsical lyrics, coupled with scat singing or vocalese riffs filled with nonsense syllables. Others were sincere ballads which caught the public's fancy, like his signature song, "King of the Road". Miller's whimsical lyrics and nonsense sounding style led to him writing and performing songs for children's films such as "Oo de Lally" for the Disney animated film Robin Hood. During his most successful years as a songwriter and singer, Miller's music was placed in the country genre due to his somewhat country or folk sounding voice and the use of an acoustic guitar. AllMusic wrote that in blending country with jazz, blues, and pop, Miller "utilized unusual harmonic and rhythmic devices in his sophisticated songcraft" and was an important influence on progressive country. On his own style, Miller remarked that he "tried to do" things like other artists but that it "always came out different" so he got "frustrated" until realizing "I'm the only one that knows what I'm thinking." He commented that the favorite song that he wrote was "You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd." Johnny Cash discussed Miller's bass vocal range in his 1997 autobiography. He stated that it was the closest to his own that he had heard.