Published on Apr 7, 2004
It’s not very often that one expects to hear a call for social
justice in a music review. Today, however, I’m going to get all
indignant about a hideous miscarriage of decency.
Meet Bill Miller. Bill Miller is the best folk-rock singer
you’ve never heard of. Why haven’t you heard of him, you ask? Easy;
Bill Miller, because he happens to be Native American, has been
almost invariably promoted and shelved as a ‘Native American
musician’, and put over in the drumming and tree frog section of
the store, where, indeed, no one bothers to go look for great
songwriting ability, fine instrumentation, and the ability to tug
at your heartstrings. This is roughly equivalent to putting Barbara
Streisand in the Klezmer section, or Janet Jackson in the African
World Music section. In other words, this is pretty damned
dumb.
Because of this, almost no one has heard of Bill Miller, and
that is an utter and tragic miscarriage of justice. See, Bill
Miller can sing, people. Bill Miller can play multiple instruments
with aplomb, grace, and talent. Bill Miller is cool as hell. So as
a public service, The Daily Vault brings you Bill Miller’s greatest
hits collection,
Spirit Songs, and hopes that you discover it, and him, and
get him out of the World Music scary section. Because, dammit, he
deserves bettter.
Spirit Songs is, in a word, triumphant. If this is the kind
of stuff Miller does, I will be hunting down every single CD he has
ever put out and adding them to my personal musical collection toot
sweet. His incredible vocals, guitar playing, flute playing, and
songwriting affected me immediately like few artists have —
Miller’s work reminds me of the first time I heard Bill Morrissey,
or Phideaux, or James McMurtry. He is, in a word, a genius, and
Spirit Songs is a great introduction to his work.
Every track on here is outstanding, but I have particular
fondness for the haunting and sorrowful “Dreams Of Wounded Knee”;
the questions without answers of “Ghost Dance”; the sheer joy of
“Every Mountain I Climb”; real stories like “Tumbleweed” and
“Reservation Road”; and the breathtaking potential in “Underneath
The Blue Sky”, the new track showing the direction we can expect in
the future.
You owe it to yourself and to common decency to check out Bill
Miller. Yes, he sings about Native American issues, but that
doesn’t make him a ‘Native American musician’ anymore than Rush
should be filed under ‘Canadian folk music’. Check out
Spirit Songs today.