Songman Scott Miller continues to thrive as solo artist

Scott Miller, founding member of the Viceroys and V-Roys, will play the Hi-Tone with former bandmate John Paul Keith.

Scott Miller is somewhere in the Lone Star State, trying to multitask. A tireless road warrior, the Knoxville-based singer-songwriter — and co-founder of the city's legendary, long-lamented bands the Viceroys and V-Roys — is trying to run errands, conduct an interview and make the first date of his solo tour in Austin. "I didn't even bring a road manager with me this trip," says Miller, while maneuvering in and out of Texas traffic.

Scott Miller, founding member of the Viceroys and V-Roys, will play the Hi-Tone with former bandmate John Paul Keith.

On Tuesday, Miller will arrive in Memphis for a show at the Hi-Tone Café. The concert will be a special one, as it pairs him with his erstwhile Viceroys bandmate John Paul Keith, leader of Memphis roots-rockers the One Four Fives. It marks the first time the former partners and musical foils will be on the same bill in 15 years.

For the past decade-plus, since the breakup of the V-Roys, Miller has been a busy man, releasing eight albums as a solo artist and with his backing band, The Commonwealth. But after a long run with respected folk/bluegrass label Sugar Hill, Miller decided to venture out on his own for his latest album.

"You know the expression 'top of the middle,' " asks Miller. "For an artist at the top of the middle, when you're not selling millions of albums, but you're not selling paltry numbers either, being on a label doesn't make any sense. I loved Sugar Hill. It just seemed better to do it on my own. That's when I came up with the demos idea."

Miller decided to tap his fiercely loyal fan base to help finance his next project, by selling them a limited-edition CD of his home demos. "I printed up a thousand copies to sell, a one-time run. I even made my wife pay for hers," says Miller, with a chuckle. "At 20 bucks a pop, that's 20 grand, which is what the budget was gonna be anyway."

The plan paid for the recording of Miller's latest effort, For Crying Out Loud, released last year on his own F.A.Y. label, and co-produced by veteran Nashville hands Mike Webb and Doug Lancio.

While the business model may have changed, Miller remains a gifted writer, a worthy heir to the old Nashville story song tradition. Listening to clever, twisting narratives like "Sin In Indiana" and "Claire Marie" it seems certain Miller was weaned on Nashville poets like Tom T. Hall and Roger Miller.

"Actually, my dad played big band trumpet, so he had nothing to do with that lowbrow hillbilly music," says Miller, laughing. "But, seriously, growing up, what always stuck with me in having Cole Porter and Frank Sinatra and Les Brown shoved down my throat was that whenever there was a good story song, I could pick it up and recognize it."

Meanwhile, other album cuts like the moody pop gems "She's Still Mine" and "Double Indemnity" and the smoky R&B-infused "Wildcat Whistle" find Miller exploring fresh musical territory. "You've gotta shake yourself up somehow," he says. "I mean, if I'm not finding something new in the songs and I'm not enjoying what I'm doing, how can you expect an audience to?"

For Miller, songwriting remains the focus of his work, but with a touring schedule that averages 100 to 170 shows a year, he's been forced to become more disciplined about his craft.

For the past couple records Miller's actually rented an apartment in Knoxville away from his wife and home, and used it as a kind of writing office. "There's no phone, just a table and typewriter and a guitar. I went in there every morning and I wouldn't leave until I had a song or at least something at the end of the day," says Miller.

"The last two records I've done like a term paper — but hopefully, that part of it doesn't show. That would be the definition of a good writer; when you can't see the effort."

The upcoming Hi-Tone show, pairing Miller with John Paul Keith, will be a highly anticipated event for a small group of alt-country fans. The two men formed the Viceroys in Knoxville in the early-'90s. Keith left the band before Miller and company went on to record a pair of critically acclaimed albums for Steve Earle's E-Squared label. The band called it quits in 1999.

While he's happy to reflect on the past, Miller is looking to the future and writing songs for his next album. "After this run of (tour dates), sometime in March I'll try to set aside time to write. I'll probably go and rent a room again," he says, chuckling, "That is, if my wife doesn't kill me."

Scott Miller, John Paul Keith

9 p.m. Tuesday at the Hi-Tone Café, 1913 Poplar Ave. Cover is $8. For more information, call 278-8663.

© 2010 Go Memphis. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.