The Minstrel Man from Georgia

Amazon.com
Emmett Miller--bandleader, minstrel, and yodeling crooner--is a true music legend. His version of "Lovesick Blues" was covered by Hank Williams, Merle Haggard recorded an entire Miller tribute album, Leon Redbone cites him as an influence, and author Nick Tosches has devoted an entire book to his fascination with the forgotten Georgian. What makes an obscure blackface musician who recorded just two dozen or so tunes in the late '20s so special? A lot. Miller existed at one of those magical crossroads in American history. His music is a bridge between the sounds of hot jazz and the as-yet-discovered "country music," and his crooning sound would be copied by Jimmie Rodgers and others, but never quite so compellingly. His music sounds like no one else's and, despite the minstrel shtick he refused to shed long after it became unfashionable, his songs are absolutely, perfectly timeless. Miller's backing band, the Georgia Crackers, was comprised of some of the best jazz musicians of his day (Eddie Lang, the Dorsey Brothers, Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden), and they're in top form on these tunes, including "Lovesick Blues," "I Ain't Got Nobody," and "Anytime." Included are a few of Miller's recorded minstrel routines--archaic relics that can't compare to his tunes. Anyway you look at it, he led a controversial lifestyle, but his recordings are just too influential to forget. --Jason Verlinde

The Minstrel Man from Georgia,Emmett Miller,Sony,Blues,Blues Music,Blues Traditional,Minstrel,Old-Timey,Pop

Average customer rating:

Too much hype!

Good but taken out of all proportion

"Vintage country hillbilly swing yodel dixieland jazz"

Emmett Miller has had a cult following for years...

Nice to listen to, a great singer and the real history

The Minstrel Man from Georgia
Emmett Miller
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music
Traditional Blues | Blues | Styles | Music
General | Country | Styles | Music
Old-Time Country | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music
Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000002B10
Release Date: 2001-08-21

Tracks:

God's River
I Ain't Got Nobody
Lovesick Blues
The Lion Tamers
Anytime
St. Louis Blues
Take Your Tomorrow
Dusky Stevedore
I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None O' This Jelly Roll
(I Got A Woman Crazy For Me) She's Funny That Way
You Lose
Right Or Wrong
That's The Good Old Sunny South
You're The Cream In My Coffee
Lovin' Sam (The Sheik Of Alabam')
Big Bad Bill Is Sweet William Now
The Ghost Of The St. Louis Blues
Sweet Mama (Papa's Getting Mad)
The Pickaninnies' Paradise
The Blues Singer (From Alabam')

Amazon.com

Emmett Miller--bandleader, minstrel, and yodeling crooner--is a true music legend. His version of "Lovesick Blues" was covered by Hank Williams, Merle Haggard recorded an entire Miller tribute album, Leon Redbone cites him as an influence, and author Nick Tosches has devoted an entire book to his fascination with the forgotten Georgian. What makes an obscure blackface musician who recorded just two dozen or so tunes in the late '20s so special? A lot. Miller existed at one of those magical crossroads in American history. His music is a bridge between the sounds of hot jazz and the as-yet-discovered "country music," and his crooning sound would be copied by Jimmie Rodgers and others, but never quite so compellingly. His music sounds like no one else's and, despite the minstrel shtick he refused to shed long after it became unfashionable, his songs are absolutely, perfectly timeless. Miller's backing band, the Georgia Crackers, was comprised of some of the best jazz musicians of his day (Eddie Lang, the Dorsey Brothers, Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden), and they're in top form on these tunes, including "Lovesick Blues," "I Ain't Got Nobody," and "Anytime." Included are a few of Miller's recorded minstrel routines--archaic relics that can't compare to his tunes. Anyway you look at it, he led a controversial lifestyle, but his recordings are just too influential to forget. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

Too much hype!.......2006-12-16

I too, purchased this after hearing Merle Haggards "I Love Dixe Blues" tribute (which incidently would have been much better if he would have stuck to the original concept, instead of making it a live concert with his own songs). While I found this recording very enjoyable, to call it the rosetta stone of county music is blind hype. This theory seems to be based on three things: Bob Wills covering "Right or Wrong", Hank Williams covering "Lovesick Blues" and Jimmie Rodgers simular yodeling style. First of all, how many hundreds of blues and jazz recordings did Wills and the Texas Playboys cover? Does the fact that Emmmett Miller was obscure, make him more of an influence than Duke Ellington? Second, in Nick Tosches book COUNTRY, he keeps mentioning Hank Williams cover of "Lovsick Blues" being in Miller's style, but early in the same book, he says the song was learned from Rex Griffin's recording. Last of all Jimmie Rodgers was too natural a singer to have copied his style from Miller. Like Elvis Presley, he was an original with a great feel for black music. While I recommend this disc without reservation, I believe the theories are pure hype.

Good but taken out of all proportion.......2004-07-08

First and foremost, Emmett Miller is a great artist - but his impact has been taken out of all proportion by many writers (especially in the light he hasn't recorded that much). All accounts will tell you that Miller has influenced everyone from Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills and Moon Mullican through Hank Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley right on up to Merle Haggard. True, he probably did. But, to dismiss Jimmie Rodgers or neglect the vastely underappreciated Moon Mullican because of Emmett Miller is not right.

Still, this is an essential and interesting set. Best tracks are ones like "Lovesick blues", "Anytime" and "St Louis blues", but some of the minstrelly yarns are corny (as is his minstrel appearance). While there are many superior white interpreters of black music (Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican, Tommy Duncan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams, Jimmy Murphy and Elvis Presley just to name a few), this is a sort of stepping stone between what Al Jolson did and what the artists listed in brackets did (but I probably guess Jolson's fans will rather Jolson, and the fans of the artists in the brackets will keep following them).

"Vintage country hillbilly swing yodel dixieland jazz".......2004-03-01

Miller influenced Hank williams, Leon redbone, Jimmie Rogers, and countless others. His vocals are fun and appealing, and his dialogs are hilarious, especially about the "Lion." Here you get the original Lovesick Blues, and many other future jazz standards. you also have every name in jazz backing Miller up(essentially the Dorsey Bros. alumni). This is hot dixielandish jazz, but with blues feeling and Milelr's yodellign and great sense of rhythm, swing and HUMOR!!! Essential!

Emmett Miller has had a cult following for years..........2003-11-30

Cool people have known about Emmett Miller for years, I mean the guy performed in blackface with a bluesy feeling, and yodeling in such an appealing country blues style. He was backed by Jimmy & Tommy Dorsey, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Bunny Barigan, and many other jazz allstars on the recordings on this cd. All the tracks are jazz standards and have classic dixieland arrangents. The best sides are the ones with doalouges, where he does sort of an early Amon'N'Andy thing. Emmett is cool and a blues legend. Even jazz critic Will Friedwald wrote in his book Stardust Melodies, that Milelr recorded a very credible version of St. Louis Blues. Every cut on this is a classi, and if you hear his version of I Ain't Got Nobody, you will understand why Miller was such a big influence on Leon Redbone(also listen to Lovesick Blues, and you'll know that Hank Willaims was also influenced by Miller). This is an essential cd for fans of vintage jazz, western swing. country blues, and yodeling. A great disc full of classic jazz and country blues, for an eclectic dixielandish style! Buy one for yourself and for a friend who has a good sense of humor(musicly taht is). A gem of a cd.

Nice to listen to, a great singer and the real history.......2003-06-16

This is simply good music to listen to and enjoy, although it is very historically important. Emmet Miller was a weird, cool, jive performer, who is fun to listen to. If you listen to him, you know where Leon Redbone really comes from. Listen to him, and realize that when Bob Wills hired singers, he auditioned them by requesting they sing Miller songs usually "I ain't got Nobody," a tune that Miller obviously takes from Louis Armstrong's great version. Listen to him and you will see a lot of him in Tommy Duncan and Leon Rausch. Probably Hank Williams never heard Miller, or his version of the lovesick blues. Williams copied a copy of Miller's performance. To my opinion, Miller's is just as good or better.

People raised on the fiction of modern "country" music may object. That isn't what this is, thank goodness. It hasn't been white-washed, formulaed, and restricted to a group of easily borrowingly repeated tunes. Instead this is the meeting of the last of the great ministrels with pre-Swing Jazz, and above all one of the many ways the masterful musical innovations of Louis Armstrong penetrated white music.

I am sure that just like Bob Wills or Hank Penny or any of Miller's real descendants, Miller did NOT consider himself part of country music. He was a jazz man of the first generation as well as the last of the great minstrel performers, two of the great strains in the history of American culture. The musicianship on his records is that of the basic Jazz combos that Columbia's predescessors maintained at the Union Square Hotel and other Manhattan studios. I haven't checked the notes recently, but I am sure the Dorsey Brothers, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and lesser known drum and guitar players who LATER went on to front or be great soloists in the swing bands are on these sides when they worked as session recorders for whosever session was scheduled that day.

Incidentally, the one time Bob Wills appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, he almost left because they objected to his drums and horns. They even tried to stop him smoking his trade mark cigar on stage (on a radio show!!!) He never returned. As the song goes, Hank Williams got kicked off the Opry as well. The currently uninformed person whose only reference is nashville, is ignorant that a broad stream of white performers from the South who were decisive in this music like Miller were inspired and informed by Black music.

With all this said, Miller is fun to listen to. His music has a nice little swing to it. He is funny. His versions of some of the pop standards, like She's Funny This Way are great are terrific.

Yes, there are some things that are offensive and down right racist here. I am African American and have been actively involved in antiracist struggles and research all my life. This is the real legacy of life in this country, not some aberration. You're not going to learn about American culture without some of this. So don't sweep it under the rug, enjoy it.
The greater triumph against racism is that Miller helped bring much of the Black style into white southern and Western music.

Music Album:

Music Album