Jimmy Miles
One for the Lady
Platinum Plus Records
By David Pilot
 A barroom picker
set to chase the dream and come stormin' outta 'Bama with a bead
on Top 40 airplay could do a lot worse than get things rolling
with an invitation to Robert Metzgar's office at Capitol Management.
If said picker were to have a Waylon fetish and a rock-solid
belief that the only way to 'tonk is the hardcore spit-and-sawdust
way, he'd be in even better shape. Say howdy to Jimmy Miles,
y'all. He's one ugly sonofabitch, but damned if he's not also
one hell of a singer. On his debut record, One For the Lady,
he channels Jennings' ghost ferociously through tracks like "I
Can't Take Your Kind of Lovin'." All the brutal searing
honesty Old Hoss built his stake on apparently beats in other
musical hearts, and don't be surprised if you find yourself reminiscing
a bit as the warm and occasionally tremulous timbre of Miles'
baritone resurrects the past in more ways than one.
Hailing from Beaverton, Alabama, Miles also showcases a tender
side that some argue Waylon never showed until Jessi Colter finally
had him settled down and nursed back to health. It's tough to
make songs like "All American Woman" come off sounding
worthwhile; face it, even the title sounds like the barker's
call at the Carnival of Hokum that passed through your county
last month. But listen close, Miles puts that indefinable something
into his delivery that makes all the difference when it's time
to decide if a song's sloppy or seminal. Whoever he's singing
about here, he believes every word he's saying. That's rare.
Jimmy's better, though, when he's laying down the backwoods
truth.
Have I ever told you
How I feel about being gone?
If you think it's killing me
Baby you're wrong
You don't know how good it feels
To be away from you and free
Someday you'll have another one
But it damn sure won't be me
Working with Metzgar on this might have been the best thing
to happen to Jimmy Miles to that point; Metzgar produced the
album and brought in some serious session talent to bring things
to life. Kerry Marx's guitar work here is mind-altering; the
snarling licks on the toe-tappers are full of brimstone while
slow-dancers like "She Deserves the Best" find themselves
carried softly along on a rippling six-string river meandering
subtly through the lush piano work of Katherine Styron (Ronnie
Milsap, Merle Haggard). And while it's clear in places that
Miles let this record happen without his own band, while it's
painfully obvious in places that what's recorded here just can't
be what Miles really wants to produce, it's experiences like
this that can help a young artist finish out the roadmap for
his own direction. The professional dedication alone that's
evidenced by players like the ones present here is an education
in and of itself.
All told, what's on display with One For the Lady boils
down to warm Dixie nights and roadhouse hijinks. It's well crafted
if overdone in places, but seems to signal the arrival of a new
artist who's well worth your hard-earned greenbacks. Jimmy's
got a new live album on the way, also recorded in Nashville,
but this time produced by Buddy Jennings (yeah, Waylon's boy)
and backed by Miles' own longtime band, Southern Pride. The
record is the result of a Jennings tribute late last year in
Nashville, put together by Kathy Jennings and attended by Jessi
Colter, Billy Ray Reynolds and the aforementioned Buddy Jennings.
Based on the reception Miles and his band found waiting for
them and the interest Buddy has taken in their work, they've
left Capitol Management behind and are striking out now as a
band making their own music their own way, the only way they
know how.
In this in-between stage of his career, Jimmy Miles is settling
for a collaboration website at http://onlinerock.com/musicians/jimmy/album.shtml.
Learn more there, listen to some tracks from this effort, and
keep your eyes peeled for the new one. We may be seeing the
start of something special here.
Contact David Pilot at: tailgunner-at-rockzilla.net
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