Download new press photos here (photo credit David McClister)
New Single ‘Ditcher’ Is A Fever Dream Ode To Avoidance
Watch a full-band live performance of ‘Ditcher from the Sound Emporium in Nashville here
New album
Heat Comes Down
out October 6th via Rounder Records
“A well-travelled wordsmith mapping out the world he’s seen, three chords at a time.”
-Tyler Childers
John R. Miller leans into the avoidant side of his personality on his latest single ‘Ditcher’, a slow-rolling standout from his upcoming album Heat Comes Down (out October 6th via Rounder Records).
‘Ditcher’ is a kind of ode to the part in all of us that would rather stay at home or just not deal with much of anything. In addition to the album version, available this Friday, July 21st, Miller and his band recorded a languid, dream-like version at the Sound Emporium in Nashville, TN , watch it here. The song itself came to Miller during a particularly sleep-deprived part of the Heat Comes Down recording sessions.
“’Ditcher’ wrote itself after I’d been awake for about 36 hours,” Miller explains to BrooklynVegan. “I had been in a fever, recording and working on songs for several days in the basement of the house I used to live in in Madison, TN, and I started playing a melody that knocked me in the head. The words came out in about ten minutes and I made a fully-formed demo of it right away, which has maybe only happened to me a handful of times. I don’t know where it came from, but I liked it enough that it became one of my favorites on the record, as well as the source of the album’s title.”
Miller belongs to the rare breed of songwriters whose expansive introspection uncovers many truths about the state of the human condition. On Heat Comes Down, the West Virginia-raised, Nashville-based artist intimately narrates his sleepless nights and nostalgic daydreams, existential dread, and nuanced observations of the troubled world around him. But while a number of its songs convey a certain unease, Miller endlessly imparts the kind of lovely reassurance that can only come from shared catharsis.
The follow-up to his 2021 Rounder Records debut Depreciated—an album No Depressions says “casually saunters towards a full existential breakdown that’ll leave you gasping for air”— Heat Comes Down finds Miller teaming up with producers Andrija Tokic and John James Tourville (both known for their work with artists like Sunny War and The Deslondes). Over a 3-day session at The Bomb Shelter (Tokic’s Nashville studio), Miller joined forces with several members of his longtime live band (drummer John Clay Burchett, guitarist J. Tom Hnatow, fiddle player Chloe Edmonstone) as well as bassist Craig Burletic and Jeff Taylor (a multi-instrumentalist whose credits include Willie Nelson and Elvis Costello).
Miller has extensive US headline tour dates into the fall, and will hit a number of summer festivals, including Nelsonville and Catbird. He’ll also take part in the Healing Appalachia benefit show in Lewisburg, WV in September. The show raises funds for Hope in the Hills, which helps support recovery efforts around central Appalachia. For all dates please go here
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