Discovering Nashville's Music Legacy: Alex Miller's Journey Through Country Music and Personal Growth

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.

00:00:02
Speaker 2: Hey, y'all, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of the Taking a Walk Nashville podcast. Today, I'm back at the Russell Hotel in East Nashville, and I'm sitting here with country artist Alex Miller. You probably remember him from American Idol Season nineteen. He was only seventeen years old when he was on American Idol. That brought him fame and changed his life. In twenty twenty one, now at twenty two years old, he's released a full album, Miller Time, and two EPs Country and My Daddy's Dad. We are looking forward to talking about his latest album, More Country Than You, that just released. He has some great duets on it with Emily Anne Roberts, Tracy Bird. He covered Too Much Fun by Darryl Singletary on the album. I love his voice and I'm so excited for you guys to hear my conversation with Alex Miller. He has shared lineups with Brooks and Dunn, Hank Williams, Junior, Josh Turner. The list goes on and on, So please join me as we sit down and speak with Alex Miller today.

00:01:19
Speaker 1: Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with your hosts singer songwriter Sarah Harrelson.

00:01:25
Speaker 2: Hello, everyone, It's Sarah Harrelson, your host of the Taking a Walk Nashville podcast, and today I have with me country artist Alex Miller. How are you today?

00:01:35
Speaker 1: I'm good? How are you?

00:01:36
Speaker 2: I'm good. I'm so glad to finally meet you. And we were just talking about your latest album that just released on April tenth, More Country than You. I love this album. There's a lot to discuss about it, and you've mentioned that this latest project shows the work that you've put into growing as a singer and songwriter since your time on American Idol a few years ago. So what's the biggest difference you have seen in your voice or you're writing today compared to back in twenty twenty one.

00:02:08
Speaker 3: Well, twenty one, maybe I was eighteen years old, so you know, I'd rarely do anything about life. But at twenty two, almost twenty three, now I feel like I've just matured as an adult and learned so much about more about the music and more about the people in the music.

00:02:26
Speaker 1: I think my voice is certainly matured. I think it.

00:02:29
Speaker 3: Sound more like a man now, less like an eighteen year old kid. But I think the record is really a testament to me and it shows all different sides of me and the stuff that I love.

00:02:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, even back then, you can tell your voice is so mature for your age and your wise beyond your ears and your voice. Just listening to on the new record takes us back in time with a traditional country sound. So you did a cover of Darryl Singletary's song too Much Fun? You did a song with Trees. Were those some of your influences growing up?

00:03:03
Speaker 1: Oh? Absolutely.

00:03:04
Speaker 3: Daryl Singletary, He's like one of the greatest country singers of the nineties and I love his voice, very low registered voice and Tracy Bird. I mean, you know, if you're a nineties country fan, you've done the Watermelon Crawl, you know. So it's it's one of my favorite one of my favorite songs and one of my favorite artists, and just it's an honor to have him on this record.

00:03:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I bet that was so much fun collaborating with him. What was it like recording that song with him? Because he didn't take part in the writing of it, correct.

00:03:36
Speaker 1: He didn't know.

00:03:37
Speaker 3: I just wanted to And it's that's a crazy story. So I was you believe in small things can lead to big things.

00:03:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I was getting on an elevator. I met Tracy on the elevator.

00:03:48
Speaker 3: Wow, and he invited me to lunch with him that day, and it was just it was just a whim. I met him and he just liked what I was doing and he recognized me from TikTok is what he said. You're on TikTok, ain't you boy?

00:04:01
Speaker 1: I said yeah. So I got his number and he said if ever needed advice, to let him know.

00:04:06
Speaker 3: And I've asked him several things, more business related things, but I've asked him several things throughout the last couple of years.

00:04:14
Speaker 1: He needs helped me on them.

00:04:15
Speaker 3: And so I wanted to write a song to kind of just commemorate our friendship and kind of say thank you to him in a way. And so I wrote the Bird with Jerry Sally and I send him a song and I asked him, say, would you want to do this with me? And he said absolutely. So working with him though, was great. So we actually recorded here in Nashville my parts and sent his stuff to his Stell guitar player. His name's Joe Rogers, and sent it down to Beaumont, Texas, and they record down there. Because he's so busy and I'm so busy, it was kind of tough to get us together, but yeah, it was. It's just when I heard his voice back to me, I'll never forget we was. It was me and my dad was listening to it. And you know, dad's a huge Tracy Bird, George Strait, Mark Chestnut fan, so I know it made him really proud and my dad really proud to have that record.

00:05:03
Speaker 2: Oh that's amazing. And have you performed a song together in person?

00:05:07
Speaker 1: Yes, we have.

00:05:07
Speaker 3: We we did a show together in Little Valley, New York and he got up and there's a clip of it on my Instagram, Facebook stuff.

00:05:16
Speaker 2: That's so awesome to be able to perform a song and do a collaboration with one of your influences. So how do you balance staying, you know, firmly planted in a modern soundscape today while maintaining the energy of traditional and classic country.

00:05:33
Speaker 1: It's not too hard for me. I just am who I am ashamed of it?

00:05:36
Speaker 3: I'm I'm you know, I just do the music that I love and either people like it or they won't. And I'm pretty content with that.

00:05:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I love that. You know, traditional country sounds are definitely resurfacing in though.

00:05:50
Speaker 1: I think there's a place for me now.

00:05:51
Speaker 3: If it had been you know, ten to fifteen years ago, there may not have been a place for me. But there's nobody. There's not really a Kentucky artist doing what I'm doing right now either. So I'm glad to be representing my state and representing my people back home. And I think that's why people like what I'm doing is because I do do that.

00:06:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're from Lancaster, Kentucky.

00:06:11
Speaker 1: That's not so far, correct me. I'm just kidding.

00:06:16
Speaker 3: You'd have a way harder time pronouncing my county name than you would my city.

00:06:21
Speaker 2: What's the county name?

00:06:22
Speaker 1: Uh, well, it's spelled g A R R A R D gared. That's how we say. A lot of people say Gerard and Gerard, but it's Geared. Okay. Anyway, that's the Kentucky thing. People say Louisville wrong too, that's true, that's true.

00:06:35
Speaker 2: And where you're from is not far from Lexington, correct, That's very right.

00:06:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I believe Blue.

00:06:41
Speaker 3: Sorry to everybody else that pulls for all the other SEC teams.

00:06:45
Speaker 1: Kentucky all away from me.

00:06:46
Speaker 2: Well, it's not too far from Nashville. And you know, you are still rooted in Kentucky. You're an ambassador for the Kentucky Proud program, a recipient of the American f FA degree. So how does your upbringing in Kentucky influence your country sound and what does it mean to still be involved in the community.

00:07:08
Speaker 3: Well, it's a great honor to be at Kentucky and to be from Kentucky. Being able to tell people where I'm from is one of my favorite things because everybody asks, you know the accent of mine, They where are you from? Well, yeah, a lot of people think it's Texas, but it's very, very Kentucky. And it's a great honor of the Kentucky Proud folks. That's the Department of Agriculture, and I got to thank my FFA for that.

00:07:32
Speaker 1: I knew some people and the staff.

00:07:34
Speaker 3: There at the Department of Agriculture there in Kentucky, and they asked if I want to be there in Brandon Bastard, and I said absolutely. And what that is, folks, is all the products that are made of Kentucky. Like I think Jim Beam even falls under that there's a lot of a lot of really neat things that are from our state that get.

00:07:50
Speaker 1: Exported out tell everywhere else.

00:07:52
Speaker 3: And it's called Kentucky prowd. So if you see Kentucky prowd and make sure you buy some of that stuff.

00:07:58
Speaker 2: Very cool. Do you go back to Kentucky Lot?

00:08:00
Speaker 3: Actually this weekend, it's just my I guess I was one of those heirs. But I'm playing my hometown show May the second, and it's going to be a great night. Hopefully all my friends and family will be there and that should be enough to fill the place.

00:08:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, that'll be great. Great to connect with your community again. And you know, just at twenty two years old, now you've already released a full album two EPs. How did those previous projects, Miller Time, my Daddy's Dad, how did those pave the way for this specific new album More country than you.

00:08:36
Speaker 3: I think Miller Time did what it was supposed to do. It was it planned to me firmly in the traditional country world, and that's where I wanted to be. And with the other records, I think that it showed how I was going to grow and what I wanted to do. And I think more character than you, it's just another stepping stone in that.

00:08:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's such a fun album. You have another collaboration on this album, the title track, More Country than You. It features a really fun rivalry with Emily and Roberts. So tell us how did that collaboration come together and who actually wins the crown of cous thriest of them all.

00:09:13
Speaker 3: I'll say this, I think as far as a female, she may be the countries, and as far as a male, I probably might be the country in the genre right now.

00:09:21
Speaker 1: But I don't know. I think that song came about a TikTok. Again, I gotta give a.

00:09:28
Speaker 3: Lot of credit to that little lap But I saw her when a whole lot of little on her songs came out. I'd messaged her and told her how much I appreciated that song and loved that song, and she said, well, we need to get together and rite sometime, and I said, yeah, we do. And it turns out we knew a lot of the same people, and so it just kind of was a match made in heaven. And then my buddy Bill White, he's in the Country Music this Jockey's Hall of Fame. I brought him in on this song and he had that idea more country than you for the both of us. US and the rest of y' all can go listen to you right now. But it's a great song, and I'm just very thankful for him laying And you know, she was just nominated.

00:10:11
Speaker 1: For the ACM New Female the Year.

00:10:13
Speaker 3: We're all kind of upset she didn't win, But anyway, I really appreciate her and her and her family or her husband.

00:10:20
Speaker 1: They're all just great people.

00:10:21
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's such a fun song. She just won an award and recognition for AI m P Yeah Publishers, So she's doing great. Everyone should check out that song. I love it. Have You also co wrote several songs on this album, including Memories in Gin and Why does My Heartache? So, when you're in the writing room with someone like Jerry Sally, what's your primary goal for the story you want to tell?

00:10:48
Speaker 3: I just want to get a great song, like That's all I care about, you know. I don't go into it with I go into it with an idea like why does my Heartache? That was my idea. Memories and gen that was my idea. I just go in there with that, and uh, the best idea wins, and the best lyric wins. So you know, everybody has a little different process. You know, people asked, what do you come up with the melody or the lyrics first? And I always start with the words, because that's what you got to sing.

00:11:14
Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah, And I love hearing a song about Jen because you see, most country songs are about whiskey exactly, well mixed up.

00:11:22
Speaker 1: A little bit. You know.

00:11:22
Speaker 3: Hagrid has a great song called Misery Injin. Yes, and I just thought i'd add a little extra to it. This is a heartbreak cocktail, that one is.

00:11:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it. And this album was also recorded at Gorilla's Nest in Ashland City, that's just northwest of town.

00:11:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's too country to cut here.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: Well, that's what I love about Nashville's You don't have to go too far out of the city limits. You're still in Davidson County. Fine country. Oh yeah, countryside here.

00:11:50
Speaker 3: I'd say you'd probably find more people out in the country than you would hear but that's that Maybe that's just me.

00:11:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ashland City is definitely a country. What was it like recording your album at that studio?

00:12:01
Speaker 1: It's a great studio.

00:12:03
Speaker 3: It was awesome, you know, I had, you know, Mike Johnson and some of the greatest. Gordon Mote was on this record, Janey Flehner, who's a ACM Musician of the Year, I think or CMA either one incredible group of musicians.

00:12:19
Speaker 1: James Mitchell was on guitar.

00:12:22
Speaker 3: I had the cream of the crop when it came to the band that was playing on this project, So I couldn't ask for better players and musicians.

00:12:28
Speaker 1: On my projects.

00:12:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, the production is amazing and going to your performances now you've been able to perform at iconic venues such as Grendel Opry, the Ryman Country Music Hall of Fame. Is there one moment on those stages that stands out for you as that I've made at second or what are your thoughts on those stages being able to perform there.

00:12:52
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:12:52
Speaker 3: I think I made a moment was definitely the Opry, But who's to say I've made it?

00:12:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I still got a long way to go.

00:13:00
Speaker 3: I think I think that was certainly it singing that song about my grandpa and knowing how many people would just kill for that opportunity, and I'm representing not only me, but my state, my family. That was the greatest honor I've had so far, and I'm so thankful that I've got to do that, and I'm thankful all the people that got me there.

00:13:19
Speaker 2: It's amazing how much you have accomplished at such a young age. And you also have more upcoming shows this summer. And you're also going to Norway. Have you ever been there before?

00:13:31
Speaker 1: No, I've never been to Norway.

00:13:33
Speaker 3: I guess I'm gonna have to learn me some Norwegian or they're going to have to have a he'll bildy translator wanting them two.

00:13:38
Speaker 1: But I'm excited to go.

00:13:39
Speaker 3: I've never been out of the country, across the never flown across the pond, so this will be a first time for me.

00:13:45
Speaker 2: That'll be very exciting. And you have a lot of shows coming up in the States this summer as well, don't you.

00:13:50
Speaker 1: I do.

00:13:50
Speaker 3: I'm playing Oklahoma City with Aaron Watson, at the Kentucky State Fair with Ernest. I'm about to do something with Chris Cagle and got Craig mulrgan and Parmally doing some shows with them. So I've been I'm busy, little b this year.

00:14:05
Speaker 2: Amazing. Yeah, you are sharing the stages with a lot of amazing artists, Alex. I hope everyone will listen to your new country, your new album More Country than You. And my last question for you today we are on taking a walk Nashville. So my question is what is the most memorable walk you have ever taken in Nashville.

00:14:27
Speaker 3: In Nashville, well, I actually try to walk every day. That's something that I do just keep the weight off. But anyway, my most memorable walk in Nashville me and my grandpa took a trip here in twenty twenty one and getting the walk through the Hall of Fame with him was probably my favorite walk.

00:14:46
Speaker 1: I've got the tape.

00:14:46
Speaker 2: Oh that's special. It is Is there a specific exhibit that you were drawn to the most?

00:14:53
Speaker 1: Well? To me? At that point in time.

00:14:56
Speaker 3: He loved Hank Williams Senior, all the old classic guys, so getting to see them was really neat. We also got to go to Arnstub Record Shop, which is now not really what it was. At one point it was wherever it was still the et shop and had all the records in there. So was He always thought that was neat because he was born in forty seven and it started in forty seven, so he really liked Arnestubb. That was his favorite, so getting to go there with him was really neat too.

00:15:22
Speaker 2: Oh that's so special. Yeah, we did an episode actually taking a walk through the Country Music Hall of Fame.

00:15:27
Speaker 1: Oh that's cool cast.

00:15:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that was a lot of fun. Alex Miller, thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk Nashville today.

00:15:34
Speaker 1: It was a good take a walk with you. Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson. Please check out our other shows produced by Buzznight Media Productions, Comedy Saved Me and Music Saved Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman, and Taking a Walk hosted by Yours Truly buzz Night. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and are part of the iHeart podcast network