Jim Lauderdale

We went broke, and I'd come here to play.

I was playing with Jim Lauderdale back then.

You know Jim, my friend from—

Yeah, you partnered in their show as well.

What else did I want to ask you? Well, more about some of these songs.

Oh, and also, after you got to Nashville, when did you meet Emmylou?

Well, we were living in L.A. still, South Pasadena, and I was playing guitar for Jim Lauderdale.

His second record had a song, King of Broken Hearts, on it.

We've got Tom Plunny from the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

We've got two-time Grammy winner Jim Lauderdale on it.

We've got Doodle in the Golden River Grass on it.

And that song's out there.

I didn't know really what it meant.

But I became friends with her and her husband T-Bone when we were on that tour, good friends, on the Raising Sand, Robert Plant, Alison Krauss tour.

And so- Oh, you knew them through touring

with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant? Yeah, I was guitar player on that tour and T-Bone- And they were on it

And when the show got picked up by ABC, T-Bone came in to executive music produce season one and I worked really closely with him.

I was his man in Nashville and he'd come in all the time.

We were friends and it was such a blast.

to hang and work with him, but it drove him to the breaking point.

He has worked with, and I'm sorry I have to look down to read this because the list is so extensive.

He's worked with Emmylou Harris, John Colvin, Lee Ann Womack, Ashley Monroe, Warren Treaty, Jim Lauderdale, Elizabeth Cook, Dan Penn, John Fogerty, Regina McCrary, previous guests Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams.

He's worked with Gillian Welsh and David Rawlings, Patty Griffin, Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, Alison Krauss, The Wood Brothers, previous guests, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Richard Thompson, Allison Moorer, his incredible wife, singer-songwriter Julie Miller, and I missed so many people.

If you have liked any kind of song in the roots music category, Buddy has either performed with them, recorded with them, produced them, had them on his show, the Buddy and Jim Show, on satellite radio with the incredible Jim Lauderdale.

Buddy is a living pillar of what is the current American roots music scene.

We're just so excited, both longtime fans and admirers of, and influenced by Buddy's work.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Over the years, he's worked with Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, the late, great Dolly Parton, Solomon Burke, Frank Black, and Elvis Costello, and he worked with T-Bone Burnett on the TV series Nashville as a music director.

He's one half of Buddy and Julie Miller, co-host of the SiriusXM show, The Buddy and Jim Show with Jim Lauderdale.

And just last week, Buddy Miller was here in the Bay Area, where we are, where he appeared at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the amazing free festival that happens every October.

And during Buddy's set, he was joined on stage by his fellow Band of Joy member, Robert Plant; in addition to being joined by Emmylou Harris, who is one of the many guests on this album, Buddy Miller, his first solo album in 15 years.

Those other guests include Shawn Colvin, Lee Ann Womack, Ashley Monroe, The War and Treaty, Jim Lauderdale, Elizabeth Cook, Dan Penn, Regina McCrary, Larry Campbell, and Teresa Williams.

It's an eclectic album, and Buddy himself is an affable and fascinating fellow, and I really enjoyed speaking with him a few weeks ago, shortly after the passing of Dolly Parton and Hayden Panettiere, both of whom worked very closely with Buddy.

So our conversation kinda opened there.

... '73 or '74, whenever her first record came out.

But in 1996, uh, she, uh, she, uh, had to let Daniel go, and they needed a guitarist.

Well, Emily, she knew about Buddy Miller because sh- he had been, like, doing openings for her and the Nash Ramblers in '92 when they were touring, and so she knew very well what, what he could do, you know? He would play with Jim Lauderdale and his band.

And, uh, so she set out for, uh, um, some auditions, and people came and tried to play for her.

She wanted Bud Brad- um, she want- she wanted Buddy Miller, but he played at the audition as well, and he got the gig.

Uh, artists pass through.

We just had, um, Jason Eddy and, um, Jim Lauderdale pass through and play this tiny little listening room in the middle of nowhere.

So yeah.

Awesome.

And then, you know, I just got lucky.

I had this kind of songwriting partnership with Sean Colvin and Jim Lauderdale.

And, uh, I did all their demos and they both ended up getting signed within a year or so of each other.

And I ended up getting to produce both their records and, you know, Sean's first record did really well and Jim's didn't do so well, but all the songs got covered by various country artists.