Stars shine on “King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller”

A legendary musical artist gets a lot of love and a load of appreciation from a constellation of stars on King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller, a hugely enjoyable and well-nigh irresistible two-disc collection released this weekend by BMG.

For the benefit of those who tuned in late: Miller, who passed away all too soon at age 56 in 1992, left behind an extraordinary legacy as a songwriter, performer and recording artist. The Country Music Hall of Famer had 31 Top 40 Billboard country hits (10 of which crossed over to the pop chart), including his signature songs “Dang Me," “England Swings,” “Kansas City Star — and, of course, “King of the Road.” He held the record for most Grammy wins in a single night (in 1965) until Michael Jackson and Thriller broke it in 1984. He wrote songs and voiced a character for Walt Disney's 1973 animated film Robin Hood. And he won a Tony Award for writing the music and lyrics for the smash-hit Broadway musical Big River, an adaptation of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that helped launch the career of actor John Goodman.

(Fun fact: Goodman played Huck’s father, Pap — a role Miller himself took over for three months on Broadway after Goodman responded to the siren call of Hollywood.)

Goodman sings one of the show-stopping numbers from Big River, “Guv’ment,” on King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller. Among the other notables who offer distinctive renditions of Miller’s songs: Brady Paisley (“Dang Me”), Lyle Lovett (“England Swings”), Loretta Lynn (“Half a Mind”), Kacey Musgraves (“Kansas City Star”), Shooter Jennings and Jessi Colter (“Invitation to the Blues”), Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss (“The Last Word in Lonesome is Me”), and Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard (“Old Friends”). Several of these artists also can be heard on a collaborative cover of the album's title song.

Dean Miller, Roger’s son, co-produced the album with Colby Barnum, and freely admits the project was a labor of love. In his view, however, it’s also an ambitious attempt to showcase the sheer diversity of his late father’s work. As he writes in the liner notes for the album: “Roger Miller was too gigantic to be contained by genres and definitions.” Fans, friends and fellow artists “were simply drawn to him. He had a magnetic smile, an electric wit and a passion for life and music that transcended generations.”

We had the pleasure of talking with Dean a few days ago about King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller. Here are some highlights from our conversation.

Cowboys & Indians: Your father wrote and recorded many memorable songs throughout his career. When you were compiling this tribute CD, did you find that your biggest challenge was simply deciding which ones to include?

Dean Miller: No, the most difficult part of the project was lawyers and management. The creative part was a dream. The way we approached it was to go to each artist and say, “Would you like to be involved in a Roger Miler tribute album?” And most just said yes right away. And then we said, “OK, great. Do the song however you want to do the song, here’s the money to pay for it, and then just send it to us when you're done.” I think that freedom made people more apt to want to be involved. And then we would get back these tracks that were just magical.

C&I: You must have felt very happy to receive such a confirmation of your father’s enduring impact and influence.

Dean: One thing I’ve always known is how far-reaching my dad’s influence was —and how many people loved him as a person. So I knew if we had the budget to do this, then I could get people of high stature to do this with no problem. I just knew that, because I knew of his relationship to people.

C&I: We don’t want to ask you what cuts are your favorites — that would be like asking a parent to name his or her favorite child. But were you at all surprised by some of the recordings?

Dean: There were some interpretations that I thought were amazing, like the way the band Cake did “Reincarnation.” They chose that song, and I’m really glad they did, because it’s really a more “out there” subject matter, and kind of odd, but they did such an amazing job with it. I’m so thrilled that they remembered that song — it’s an amazing song — and I think their track was great.

I put together the Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss track, and I was really blown away by that one. I thought it sounded beautiful. And I was completely surprised by Ronnie Dunn and the Blind Boys of Alabama with their take on the song “The Crossing.” I think they took it to a whole other spiritual other level.

C&I: Do you remember your father ever talking about some of his lesser-known songs? Like maybe some deep cuts on his own albums that he wished more people knew about and recorded?

Dean: I don’t remember him ever mentioning that. I feel like my dad was kind of a constant creative genius, and he was always on to the next thing. And he was like a real mercurial kind of moment-to-moment, attention-span-of-a-fly kind of guy. So I don’t remember him dwelling on stuff like that. I think he really understood that a lot of people appreciated his music. And I think he was very grateful for that. [Laughs] I do remember him saying at times — and I won’t say which song it was — but I remember him saying about a certain song: “If I’d have known that song was a hit, I never would have written it, because I have to sing it every night.”

C&I: Please don’t tell us it was…

Dean: [Laughs] No, it was not “King of the Road.” I asked him about “King of the Road” one time. I said, “Are you ever bored with that, or tired of that?” And, I remember, that took his breath away for a second. And then he said, “No, not at all. That song has given me so much, I would never feel that way. That song, it gave me my life.” And I thought that was kind of beautiful.

C&I: You’ve certainly cast your net wide to ensure an impressive variety on this tribute CD. Not only do you have the big hits and deep cuts. You also have Eric Church singing “Oo De Lally” from Robin Hood. And you have “Guv’ment” from Big River. It’s likely that some of your father’s biggest fans don’t know he won a Tony Award for writing the words and lyrics for that show.

Dean: I feel like his whole career was full of moments where, when you tell people about it, they’ll say, “I didn’t know that.” He wasn’t one to toot his own horn, or to publicize himself. So when you tell people that he was having his greatest success on the record charts against The Beatles, they say, “I didn’t know that.” When you say he wrote a Broadway musical based on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that won seven Tony awards, they’ll say, “I didn’t know that.” When you say that any number of people recorded songs by him and had hits with them — people like Ringo Starr, Neil Diamond and other people you might not expect — they’ll say, “I didn’t know that.” [Laughs] His whole life is full of “I didn’t know that.” And he's had some amazing, amazing accomplishments.

Here is Brad Paisley’s rendition of “Dang Me” from King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller.