BUDDY & JULIE MILLER : BUDDY & JULIE MILLER

  1. Keep Your Distance
  2. The River's Gonna Run
  3. You Make My Heart Beat Too Fast
  4. Forever Has Come To An End
  5. Little Darlin
  6. Rock Salt And Nails
  7. Dirty Water
  8. Wallflower
  9. That's Just How She Cries
  10. Rachel
  11. Holding Up The Sky

Label : Hightone Records

Release Date : 2001

Length : 42:34

Review (AllMusic) : Earthy husband and wife singer/songwriters Buddy & Julie Miller offer more rootsy, countrified folk music on their self-titled 2001 release, this time with a full, more rock-influenced sound. While the two have made involved appearances on each others' albums, Buddy & Julie Miller marks their first release as a true duo. The leadoff track, "Keep Your Distance," is a full and lush stomper, humming with rich Hammond organ and rattling tambourine, while the breathy trembler "You Make My Heart Beat Too Fast" is a bluesy throwback to late-'70s era Rolling Stones, with heavy electric guitar and throbbing drums. Fans of the Millers' traditional folk love songs needn't worry; the achingly bittersweet "Forever Has Come to an End" is on par with the honest American folk on their previous releases, and the dark murder ballad "Rock Salt and Nails" is as gripping and chilling as Gillian Welch's gritty recordings. The harmonies of Julie's sweet, girlish singsong and Buddy's gruff, dark voice still remain their strongest trademark, with their honest songwriting following closely behind. Buddy & Julie Miller continue to grow and experiment with their sound, and while this may ruffle the feathers of folk purists, Americana fans will certainly embrace this new direction wholeheartedly.

Review (Austin Chronicle) : Buddy and Julie Miller have a lot going for them. Together, the two of them sound nearly perfect, a country duo that compares more with Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons than with George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Buddy Miller's guitar playing is stinging yet earthy at the same time. They borrow songs from Bob Dylan ("Wallflower") and Richard Thompson ("Keep Your Distance"), and enlist Emmylou Harris for another (the sublime "Forever Has Come to an End"). Their songs have a backwater melancholy that never quite congeals into gloom, while their sparse arrangements, substituting a Hammond B-3 for steel guitar, can still stomp ferociously as on "Little Darlin'." Their songwriting is stunningly evocative and powerful, with Julie Miller's lyrics gently asserting her spirituality. "Rachel" is especially powerful, dedicated to Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine shootings. Her voice particularly shines on "You Make My Heart Beat Too Fast," a sly combination of innocence and sex that's punctuated by a raw and nasty guitar solo halfway through. Together, the emotional intensity of the Miller's voices never lets the slower songs sound lazy or languid. This is what alt.country really should be; country music with the overproduction stripped away, direct and unpretentious.