Mrs. Miller

Artist: Mrs. Miller

LP: The Country Soul of Mrs. Miller
Song: "A Little Bitty Tear"
[ listen ]
Song: "Waitin' In Your Welfare Line"
[ listen ]

I wasn't able to take a shower this morning (water main broke), so instead I slapped myself in the face with a strong dose of vibrato to get me up and going. You can read all about the glorious life and career of whistling songstress Mrs. Elva Miller here and here, and producer Lex De Azevedo's notes from the back of the LP are included below. Here's a neat clip of Jimmy Durante and Mrs. Miller performing a duet at the Hollywood Palace. And of course she sits on the piano.

Mrs. Miller on YouTube:
[ "Inky Dinky Duet" ]
at the Hollywood Palace w/ Jimmy Durante

There was a time when the worlds of pop and country
music were sharply divided, and few singers ventured
from one into another. Today, stars like Dean Martin, Jo
Stafford, John Gary, and Al Martino sing both popular
and country songs with ease and charm and skill. It is,
however, not without concern that a record company
permits a star, firmly established in one field, to make
his or her entry into another. Conferences are held,
merchandising experts consulted, sales figures projected,
fresh flowers placed in front of small vinyl likenesses
of Herb Alpert and the Beatles.

None of this was necessary when Mrs. Elva Miller
expressed a wish to record an album of country songs.
True enough, Mrs. Miller's other successes have all
been with popular music. Yet it has been obvious
from the beginning that this delightful lady's talent
covers all fields. The warmth and naturalness that
Mrs. Miller brings to her art have a universal appeal
that would surely be suitable to almost any vocal form.

For country music, however, she has some good
qualifications. It is widely known that Mrs. Miller,
when not following her career, is a housewife in
Claremont, California. It may be somewhat less well
known that Mrs. Miller was born in Joplin, Missouri,
on the edge of the Ozarks, and brought up on a
farm near Dodge city, Kansas, onetime wild and
rowdy cowtown of the Old West, where there was
much appreciation of both country and western music.
She grew up steeped with an affection for this kind
of music, second only to her fondness for gospel
music, and the equal of her appreciation for
the popular songs she loves so well.

This early interest certainly shows here, and it seems
certain that this album will reach many who have
been slow in their appreciation for country music.
For Mrs. Miller brings to this medium a breath—
more accurately, perhaps, a gale—of fresh air,
just as she has brought to all of popular music
a new and very personal and almost indefinably
wonderful spirit of enjoyment. It is with very
special fondness, therefore, that we commend
to you this album of songs by a lady who has
rightly won an unprecedented place in the hearts
of listeners everywhere—an album of songs en-
hanced by THE COUNTRY SOUL OF MRS. MILLER.

—Produced by LEX DE AZEVEDO

[ Mrs. Miller: October 5, 1907 — July 5, 1997 ]