In 1973, he left Smash/Mercury for Columbia Records. Though he continued to perform live, he wrote very little during the 1970s, a decade memorable to his fans only for his vocal characterisation in the 1973 animated Disney film Robin Hood. The decline took its toll on Miller, physically and emotionally, as he sank into the snake pit of drugs and alcohol. He was hosting his own network TV series in 1966, but by the early 1970s his singles were failing to make an impact and his albums were not even cracking the Top 100. His endearing mixture of humour, musicianship and pure corn continued to pay dividends throughout the 1960s. His ascension to the top of both the pop and country charts was sudden and staggering. King Of The Road proved so successful that Miller went into business with the Kings Of the Road Motor Inns. It was an immediate country smash, and also crossed over into the pop charts. He was signed to Smash Records and released Dang Me, in the summer of 1964. It was at this time he started developing his goofy persona, singing silly novelty songs. He moved to Hollywood briefly to appear regularly on The Jimmy Dean Show and The Merv Griffin Show, two of the most popular television shows. He was signed to RCA in 1960 and cut a few records scoring his first top ten hit with When Two Worlds Collide the following year. They were musically about as traditional a country work as possible, with fiddle and steel breaks coming in almost every tune, and no hints of any pop or rock influences or aspects.įor a short time he played fiddle with Minnie Pearl, then became the drummer for Faron Young. These recordings were in a traditional country music styling delivered with brawny vocals and, for the time, a fresh perspective. Then came a stint with Decca Records and also releases on Starday. He recorded briefly for Mercury Records, though his first single, Poor Little John, disappeared without a trace. Soon after Jim Reeves hit number one with Miller’s Billy Bayou, and Ernest Tubb, Faron Young and George Jones all successfully recorded his songs. He was signed as a songwriter for Tree Music Publishing and Ray Price had a 1958 hit with Invitation To The Blues. He spent a year as a bellhop at a Nashville hotel and began to get some of his songs recorded. When he completed his hitch in the military, Roger moved to Nashville in the mid-1950s and began the slow and painful process of learning the craft and business of writing songs. He spent three years in the US army in Korea. Soon, he was able to play not only guitar and fiddle, but also piano, banjo, and drums. Throughout his adolesence, he played music in addition to working the ranch. Influenced by the singing of Hank Williams as well as his brother-in-law, Sheb Wooley, by the time he was ten, he had earned enough money picking cotton to buy himself a guitar. Though born in Fort Worth, Texas on January 2, 1936, shortly after his father died, when he was still a toddler, he was sent to relatives by his ailing mother and was raised by an aunt and uncle in the small farming community of Erick, Oklahoma. Though he had written scores of these sad-tinged country ballads, he rapidly became known to the public as a wacky guy with a guitar who sang funny songs and made weird noises. These included such classics as Billy Bayou, Big Harlan Taylor, Half A Mind, Swiss Maid and Invitation To The Blues. Something of a prolific songwriter, Miller had written more than 150 songs for such singers as George Jones, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb and Jim Reeves before he made a breakthrough as a singer in his own right. Incredibly that was only a warm-up for what he would do the following year, when he swept the board with another six awards, including Best Rock-and-Roll Male Vocal Performance. In 1964 Miller dominated the country music category in the Grammy Awards, walking off with five awards including Best Country Song and Best Country and Western Male Vocal Performance. In the mid 1960s, while most of America was getting caught up in rock’s British invasion, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter was dominating the pop and country charts with Dang Me, Chug-A-Lug, (And You Had A) Do-Wacka-Do, Engine Engine No.9, One Dyin’ And A Buryin’, Kansas City Star, England Swings, Husbands And Wives, Walkin’ In The Sunshine and Little Green Apples. The song has since been covered by nearly 300 artists in all styles of music from jazz through reggae to soul, country and rock. Miller wrote the jazz-influenced tune in 1964, and when released as a single in March 1965, it sold over 500,000 copies in its first two weeks and subsequently chalked up world wide sales in excess of five million. Its appeal, like all classic songs, is cross generational. Roger Miller’s King Of The Road, is one of the few songs that transcend the boundaries of time and culture.
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