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Dawson, Dave, 1996, 'Lisa Miller - Lisa's limo hits the open road", Impress Magazine
Lisa Miller has good reason to remember her magical mystery tour of the heart of Dixie - a Yank tank with Texas plates. "It was a huge Ford LTD I bought from a Mexican woman in San Antonio," says Lisa of the gas guzzler which inspired the intro track on her debut album Quiet Girl with a Credit Card.
Ms Miller, now 34 and a recent mother, bought her Big American Car on a fact finding tour of the home of roots music in 1989... "It cost $700 but we found later it had been in a couple of accidents because it kept chewing up tires on the right side," she revealed on the eve of the album's launch at The Continental Cafe on Saturday... "It was all out of whack, the steering knuckle was worn away. It used to go from side to side like a huge boat. It chewed up about a dozen tyres. But nobody messed with us because it was a huge tank with Texas plates."
Lisa's limo ferried her to Lone Star state capital Austin - long the hot bed of kicker country - and then east to New Orleans and back to Nashville, Memphis and north to Virginia.
The trip, with country radio as a sporadic soundtrack, was the fertile fuel which prompted her to quit teaching when she arrived home, manage stores selling Americana gear and sing for her supper in Suburban bars.
But unlike the lyric of the song the car didn't have a radar detector. "That came later back here in a Japanese car but it didn't work," says the Chadstone reared singer who previously released three CD EPs - one with her former band Truckasaurus and two solo discs.
Ms Miller works the road metaphor into two other tunes - Guitar Boat and Lond Wide Load - from her album on Steve Miller's W.Minc label, marketed by Shock Records.
Although Guitar Boat shares a hedonistic, escapist theme with Big American Car it was inspired by a friend's painting from her first EP. And if you strain your ears, you'll pickup a lyric that could have been peeled from Mary Chapin Carpenter's song book - "I want to do a duet with Lyle from the twenty second aisle." That's Lovett, of course, "not murderous Lyle Mendez" - the singer quips after attending to maternal duties.
Nobody's an Angel, the only tune to earn lyrics on the CD sleeve, is a much sombre affair. "It's about a few people I know," says Lisa, 34 and a mother of a baby boy, "narrow mindedness and people's perception of you and having to live up to expectations. It's a pastiche about a whole lot of different people."
But different not about observers, trapped in time warps who refer to the genre by its fifties misnomer - "country and western".
That tired terminology, used by city folks reared on hits and memories radio, is a far cry from Ms Miller's eclectic mix of country, funk, folk and pop.
Each time that description looms the victims check the cryonics crypt at their local lab to see if there's any escape(e?)s.
Quiet Girl with a Credit Card, taken from a line in the Dave Graney tune I'm Gonna Live my Life, is likely to penetrate the memories mausoleom monopolies - it's more likely to find a home on the ABC, roots community radio shows and Nu Country (94.3 FM).
There has been a suggestion that singing country engenders the problem of being taken seriously.
Don't tell that to country singer-songwriters who earn more royalties a week and accolades from critics and fans alike than flavour-of-the-month faddists in an entire career.
Steve Earle built a rural mansion in Fairview, Tennessee, solely from the airplay royalties of his second album Exit-O - that was one of his more modest sales successes.
Ms Miller believes the biggest problem of being country in the unlucky radio country is paucity of bookings from myopic, mobile phone toting rock promoters.
Luckily, she doesn't have that problem - she has been sharing bills with Graney and about to journey north of the Murray-Dixon line with bluesy rock act Tex Perkins.
The long gestation period for this album has been a blessing - songs that began life in one guise have, by osmosis, developed new cloaks... "Long Wide Load began as a trucking song but now has a bluegrass flavour and False Waltz, which was a waltz, now has a swampy feel," says Lisa. The lyrical vitriol of False Waltz is softened by the Tony Joe White style groove in which it nestles.
Long Wide Load, spawned by a banner procured by producer Graham Lee (perhaps to illustrate a belated Geelong premiership float), is not as jolly as it seems. "It wasn't meant to be a happy song but it was sung with a happy beat behind it," says Lisa.
Oh, if you're wondering why Ms Miller's vocals waft in the wake of a Procul Haremesque organ sound from Bruce Haymes you can worry no more. "I think that was the Procul Harem organ if I'm not mistaken", the singer laughed. "Bruce found it at the Fortissimo Studio where we recorded."
Alhough there's shades of Cowboy Junkies singer Margo Timmins and Rosie Flores in Ms Miller's vocal stylings she says it's not deliberate. "Since leaving Truckasaurus I've tried to sound, at long last, like myself," Lisa revealed. "I spent so many years singing other people's songs and trying to sound like them. I don't know why you do that. I have really tried to find my own voice here."
Glass, Keith, 1996, 'Lisa Miller - Quiet Girl with a Credit Card', On the Street Magazine
There are subtle pleasures here that take a while to sink in. Miller's vocals, skills and song choices are deceptively low key.
There's a depth we are not used to in local indie alternative country (whatever that is). Producer 'Evil' Graham Lee has assembled some good Melbourne-based players to create just the right mixture of gloss and grit on fine originals by Miller, plus contributions from Dave Graney, Conway Savage, Bob Dylan, Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn.
The latter's 'A Woman left Lonely', one of the great country/soul songs, does not overshadow the quality evident throughout.
Graney's 'I'm Gonna Live my Life' turns out to be a perfect strong woman's song and Lisa's inner vocal strength just the vehicle to deliver it.
Her own 'Big American Car' puts the album in drive while 'Big Small Town' (could be hometown Melbourne) may attack just the frustration and small mindedness that will hinder this album from reaching the wider audience it deserves.
The project oozes quality from the full colour slip cover on down, something the small W.Minc label excels at. There is more musical satisfaction here than on a dozen Tamworth wannabes or, dare I say it?, cooler inner city alternative rockers.
Mihelakos, Mary, 1996, 'Lisa Miller', Beat Magazine.
Lisa Miller is a shining star. Her debut album Quiet Girl with a Credit Card is quickly finding a place in people's hearts. It is a delicious platter of eleven selected tunes each flavoured with raw emotion and charm.
It is Sunday afternoon and Lisa Miller, has just awoken up from her nap. Since the birth of her son Charlie Michelangelo eighteen weeks ago her life has changed. "It is really good having him around," she explains. "It means the time that you do have you use pretty wisely and I don't get nervous a lot now because I have so much to do. I don't worry as much."
Lisa herself may also calm about everything, but her record label W.Minc are determined that Quiet Girl with a Credit Card, attracts the attention it warrants. An independent publicist has been hired, all the media have been serviced across the board from Triple J to 3LO.
The packaging of the CD also indicates that its special. It is richly coloured red, purple and royal blue and there is a casebox around the CD. The stylish W.Minc is the boutique label of quiet achiever Steve Miller who has a history in the music scene and is a part owner of the unique Standard Hotel. Esteemed rock writer Clinton Walker has written the liner notes.
Lisa Miller might seem like a new name on the scene, but she has done a lot of ground work. Her smooth vocals are familiar, formerly of Truckasaurus. She also has two independently released solo EPs to her credit. Lisa Miller and band have also landed some high profile supports like the Tex Perkins solo tour next month. But this a new chapter in her career. The country tag is too confining for Lisa Miller. Quiet Girl with a Credit Card, is a rootsy pop record, with a mild country feel."
"I get the country tag before people listen to the full record. Not that I am trying to sort of jump off that bandwagon and say hey I am not country, because I am sure there is a certain element of me that is, especially if you listen to Top 40 you can see how rootsy the record is. It is hard to try and convince some people there is more than that on the record unless they have heard it because people have a knee-jerk reaction to country music, a lot of people don't know. They find country that they like and of course there is a lot of great country and I will always like the good stuff and always hate the bad stuff," says Lisa directing the last comment towards some of the commercial Nashville releases..."I really like the crossover bands with a rock mentality. Those rock bands like Wilco and The Jayhawks that really like country music and incorporate that into their playing. It is not banal or real commerical and irky."
Quiet Girl with a Credit Card is produced by respected musician and former Triffid Evil Graham Lee. "It definitely has a particular sound that he is responsible for. He likes having a lot of the acoustic instruments in there and little snatches of melody, little ornamentations. He likes to use a lot of keyboards, there is piano on a lot of the tracks. In hindsight I am really glad they are there, I may not have thought that at the time. I was really keen to use hammond organ, but maybe less so to have piano but now I really like the songs that have piano in them."
Lisa Miller wrote seven out of the eleven songs on the album. The ones she wrote herself are superb with a cohesive feel... "I knew that I was making the album about two years ago. I intentionally wrote a few of the songs for the album and there are a couple of songs I had lying around that I totally twisted around and made into different songs. We are not using old material, if there is anything the same as on the EP, it has been re-recorded."
The carefully selected covers have been revived with beautiful treatment. These include Bob Dylan's You're a Big Girl Now, Woman Left Lonely by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham recorded by Janis Joplin, and Conway Savage's Too Dark to See as well as a borrowed new tune from Dave Graney... "He (Dave Graney) gave me a tape with some songs on it that he hadn't recorded and they were ideas. I think Steve had approaced him and said have you got any songs for Lisa? And he just gave me a demo, I did not actually ask him if he had written it for me. I think he probably had them already but he had not used them. I picked that one that we used on the record because it seemed to really fit any situation and I just really liked it. We were able to give it that cocktail treatment in the studio.
It is from a lyric in this Dave Graney track, I'm Gonna Live my Life (I'm Gonna Take my Time) that the album takes its title Quiet Girl with a Credit Card.
Reilly, Terry, 1996, 'Lisa Miller - Quiet Girl with a Credit Card', Beat Magazine
Lisa Miller's sweet voice has a steely-edged determined and authority. So subtly, she graces her debut CD with it. Quiet Girl with a Credit Card is that very album you put on your player to let the repeat button do it incessant work. In fact, the more you listen, the more you are converted.
When country music mixes tradition with a little edge, the results are invariably stupendous. But Lisa Miller has taste and style. Her shot at Dann Penn's powerful A Woman left Lonely is a case in point. It's very own soul kind of feeling, if you will, gently rises like a determined vehicle climbing a damp, winding mountain road. You can feel a shiver and an eventual imminent relief which is heightened by Bruce Haymes' sinuous (pedal steel?) (keyboards?).
The edge is tougher and more instrumentally defined on her own False Waltz with its inveigling sinister blues ambience where drummer Ashley Davies and bassist Steve Hadley provide a creeping voodoo rhythm punctuated by Sam Lemann's chipping rhythm guitar. Miller, herself, cuts through this superbly eerie canvas and marks her first album with a ripping uppercut.
In an age when country music has become as safe as milk, Lisa Miller and that select band of performers like Iris DeMent and Billy Joe Shaver, who defy this conservatism, do the music a service by stripping away it blandness. And there is nothing bland about Quiet Girl with a Credit Card. It's daring, different and teeming with integrity.
Kate, 1996, 'Lisa Miller - Quiet Girl with a Credit Card', Punter's Club Form Guide, Issue 35, p 29
Lisa Miller has been blessed with a voice that deserves to be heard. It would be surprising if you had not already heard tracks from this album about already. It has received strong airplay and the band recently appeared on Recovery for some live tracks. Some may remember Lisa from her days with Truckasaurus, however on this album there has been a subtle shift in sound.
I have only seen Lisa Miller and her band live once. On that instance, I was impressed by the gentle strength of Lisa's voice. Once again on the album Lisa is out to impress. The musical arrangements on the album have achieved a balance which ensures that the vocals are unquestionably the primary feature of the album yet, in doing so do not comprimise the overall sound.
Lisa has written seven of the tracks on the album, other compositions featured are written by such notables as Dave Graney and Conway Savage. One stand out track is a cover of Bob Dylan's 'You're a Big Girl Now'.
Lisa's subtle delivery coupled by varied and engaging musical support make this album a pleasure to listen to. There is a strong country influence throughout the album which offers much to the tempered harmonies. I have listened to this album a dozen times and am yet to tire of the soothing sounds.
One special feature of the release is the inclusion of liner notes. Not your basic thank you's, but a return to the true art form not seen since the days of Buffalo Springfield. With any luck this wonderful institution will see a revival on the strength of this example written by Clinton Walker.
Horan, Anthony, 1999, 'Lisa Miller - Wipe the floor/Safe as Houses', Inpress Magazine, Issue 553, p 38
The pedal steel left in the closet for the moment, Lisa Miller emphasises pure pop with this double A-side single, two warm, appealing songs that peripherally recall the likes of Rebecca's Empire but which have plenty of their own identity. On this evidence, album number two could well be the one that brings Miller her deserved wider audience.
Johnson, Neala, 1999, 'Lisa Miller - Wipe the floor/Safe as Houses', Beat Magazine, Issue 653, p 36
Supoib, brassy lyrics, backed by smoky country with crunch, and delivered in the voice of a sultry, yet tough-as-nails chick. And that's just the first song.
On the second, Safe as Houses, Miller sounds more like a pop chanteuse with love to share. The organ behind Safe... is more noticeable and gives proceedings a bigger, timeless feel. If you're digging Texas back there, Miller's songwriting and playing, whilst more simply realised, is just as effective.
Horan, Anthony, 1999, 'Lisa Miller - taking it further', Inpress magazine, Issue 560, p12
It's been just over four years since Lisa Miller walked into a studio to cut her first solo album, and in that time - a relatively short space, really, though as Lisa points out, an eternity in 'rock time' - a lot has changed for the highly regarded singer and songwriter, Quiet Girl with a Credit Card was an attention-grabbing record, bringing Lisa's unique blend of pop and country to a wide and appreciative audience, the record's long life driven by extensive live performing and word of mouth.
For album number two, though, some changes were in order, parelling the life changes
wrought by the birth of a child. As far as a Life goes Lisa's instantly appealing songs recorded
in a completely different style to the first record. It's a crisp, organic pop record with a more
direct working method to the more stripped-back debut. And while Lisa is often tagged as
country artist, there's a lot more going on here...
"I don't quite know where my music fits," Lisa
muses, "or whether it fits anywhere specific. I think I've almost come to the time in my life when
it just go under the 'M' section in record stores. It's fairly rootsy pop was once thrown at me, and
I caught it. But it's a terrible word. I just see myself at the moment as a songwriter, influenced by
all the music I've ever listened to and everyone I've played with. But I think it's more than me.
But generally I'm not getting the big 'C' question this time around."
What is it about the country genre that so divides an audience though?
"Well it always has been difficult to get work as a country artist anyway, if you ever were perceived as one. People have very strong views about it either way. There's a certain type of country at the moment, a kind of cool country that's been pioneered by people like Wilco. But I don't think of myself as a country singer anyway and I don't think that my songs are particularly country in form."
Acting as partial proof of that is the production team for the new album. Deadstar co-founder and producer Barry Palmer takes on producer duties for this record, with renowned audio excitement expert Kalju Tonuma recording and mixing; the result is electric; a sound that puts Lisa in prime contention for heavy
radio play and a large batch of new fans with its crunchy directness.
"That must be the bristling friction that you get when you put me and Barry together", Lisa laughs. "It was interesting,
because I obviously come from a different area than Barry. And when you get two people with
such strong influences together, something is bound to happen that's interesting. I like that side
of it, I like the pulling together of opposites."
And what a war of opposites it is - the trademark
Palmer/Tonuma electric pop approach manages to effortlessly click with Lisa's melodic,
emotion-rich songs, tracks like Safe as Houses (already being heard on radio) and the
single-ready Versions of You and Big Star managing to mix gentle dynamics with memorable
hooks and sharp audio.
"I wanted the record to sound really good on radio," Lisa points out. "I
really like the last record still, but for me it's more a lounge-room listening record. There weren't
really any singles on it at all, but that's what it was, an old-style record - a bunch of songs that all
sit together quite nicely. This one, well, I'm at the stage of my recording life where I need to get
keep being able to make records. And it's got to sound good, it's got to sit well with other
things on the radio. So I just wanted something more up-front than last time. The last record
was pretty acoustic too, and I found the whole sound of what I was doing was evolving after I
started to play live a bigger band - there's more of a guitar sound coming through, a beefier
sound."
Such an admittedly studio-reliant sound is, of course, somewhat tricky to reproduce
live. Lisa isn't overly concerned, though, preferring to focus on capturing the mood rather than
the sound for live audiences.
"We try to capture the essence of it live," she says. "The live thing
is exciting at the moment, we've got some really good players. We don't have keyboards on
stage a lot of the time, though, and they're pretty prominent on the record. But that doesn't
seem to matter that much - we have a really good time playing them live, and I think that the
sentiment comes across and the dynamics are good."
Safiloleas, Anastasia, 1999, 'Lisa Miller - Live @ The Continental', Inpress Magazine.
The W.Minc label responsible for some great things. Local country chanteuse Lisa Miller and her new album As far a life goes is no exception. Sweet vocals and tempered by music brimming with enough emotion and passion to make Johnny (Cash that is) fall to his knees.
So tonight we get the lovely Spilt Milk and As far a life goes. Bittersweet and lonesome paeans baring the usual inner-city trademark - sharp wit and a spiky, but ultimately all encompassing, loneliness.
Because most hardened gig goers are used to having their ears bruised by the mighty guitar, tonight feels like a gentle respite from the noise outside.
Miller merely tightens the blindfold and sucks you into a Titanic's worth of soft melody hooks. Especially when Big Star comes on.
Thank you very much, Lisa Miller. Tonight was a timely reminder that all is well in the world of the simple song. Very nice.
Eastmen, Judy, 1999, 'Lisa Miller', Beat Magazine, Issue 656, p22
Carew, Anthony, 1999, 'Lisa Miller - As far as a Life goes', Beat Magazine, Issue 656, p38
Lisa Miller is a songwriter, I reckon. It is very obvious that this robust collection of 12 tunes, her second album, has been carefully considered, thought out and worked upon. All the sounds on the record (amiable instrumentation from a bunch of Melbourne muso dabhands) have been deftly placed and all the words are deftly delivered. Miller doesn't let songs come off the cuff, floating on subconscious images/desires/angst, she clearly spells out just what she's saying, who she's saying it to and what it all means.
She's probably spent much of her time listening to records by songwriters. 'Classic' songwriters, you'd think, guys with generous guitars and ears for tunes and rock-legends attached to their angel names. I'd rather hate to guess just who these all are, but after listening to As far a life goes standout cut Big Star, you could safely plump for Alex Chilton as one of these musical templates. It's not necessarily that the song is called Big Star, mind you, that alerts you to the fact that Chilton is quite likely the character in this tale - one of a rocker letting down an ardent fan by destroying the illusion. It's probably that I've heard a similar refrain from many a person in this town who, in the space of one Continental show by Chilton, went from Big Star-devotee to can't- listen-to-those-records-any-more.
The lyrics throughout the song are beautifully loaded; from quips like "I don't hear the same jokes for two nights in a row", through to the continued lead-in-to-refrain "why do I want to believe you're brave?, why do I want to believe you're true?, why do I have to believe that it's all you?", the latter thoughts perfectly-punctuating the tenuous relationship between the fan and performer and the situation that oft arises when the fan cares more for the specifics of the music than the performer does. And the tune itself is a wonderfully laidback porch-sitter, punctuated by unrestrained flushes of Hammond and subtly-slick pickup-line guitar.
Another pick is Do that for You, in which the band (as it were) set about setting up a dandy country shuffle for Miller's torch-bearing vocal to slide gently across with her layered harmonies gently taking the number to various precious places. And, without doubt, there's plenty of choice tunes scattered through the record. Sweetly penned and neatly delivered singer-songwriter styled songs.
Daly, Mike, 1999, 'Lisa Miller - As far as a Life goes', The Age Newspaper - Green Guide Magazine, June 3, 1999, p 22
Lisa Miller conquers the second album hoodoo with a confident follow-up
to 1996's Quiet Girl with a Credit Card. But that's hardly surprising,
considering the quality of her first CD.
The new songs are predictably stronger and the arrangements
have shifted emphasis from country-accented twang to a more rhythmic pop
drive (although there's room for guest Garrett Costigan's swooning pedal
steel on the Tammy Wynette tribute 'Til I get it Right). The band
has acquired Rod Hayward (ex-Coral Snakes), who joins Sam Lemann on guitars,
plus drummer Peter Luscombe, bassist Ben Lempriere and Matt Heydon on keyboards.
From the killer opener Safe as Houses and
aching Versions of You to the final, lovely title ballad (the only
non-original), the songs on As far as a Life Goes carry Miller's bitter-sweet,
trademark quality. But no matter how deep blue the moods plummet, her
beguiling melodies sing out.
Johnson, Neala, 1999, 'Lisa Miller - Rule Number One (Never trust a man)', Beat Magazine, Issue 664, p30
A song that pushes the limits of how many times you can tell someone to "never trust a man" without moving the tune forawrd a step and comes out just the right side of the line in the sand.
Lisa's girlish voice on this one is sure to win over a fan or two, as are some clever one-liners and the subject matter of the song is sure to have half the population agreeing with her anyway
Bolster, Teresa, 1999, 'Lisa Miller - Don't fence me in', Herald Sun Newspaper: Hit Magazine, 22nd, July, 1999, p55
Lisa Miller wants to dump her country music image, writes Teresa Bolster
Lisa Miller's second album, As far as a life goes, is out in the shops and the Melbourne singer/songwriter is taking the opportunityt to set the record straight.
Contrary to popular assumptions, Lisa Miller says she is not a country music performer.
The new album may feature a tribute to country legend Tammy Wynette, but that's as far as Miller's interest in Nashville - or Tamworth for that matter - goes.
As far as a life goes has attracted rave reviews but, as a disgruntled Miller points out most critiques have judged the album in a country context.
"I thought, 'Is that really how you see me?' Maybe they think I want to be queen of Tamworth, but I don't."
It's a perception that has dogged her entire solo career. Any Lisa Miller feature or review "always end up with these awful headlines about me such as City Girl with Country Curl," she groans.
One reviewer compared Miller with local country acts Gina Jeffreys and Shanley Del, then suggested she send some of her songs to Shania Twain for easy money. This left Miller incredulous."
"I know he meant it in the nicest possible way, particularly as he was talking about my songriting, but my music resembles Shania Twain's in the same way that I resemble her physically. We don't look alike and we don't sound alike."
Perhaps the country comparisons are left over from her early career with "new country" outfit Truckasaurus.
"Truckasaurus was a lot of fun,a real bar band," Miller says.
"But we were too rock-n-roll for the country crowd even then. We went to Tamworth and did covers, but the only people who really liked us were at Tamworth RSL."
Her debut solo album, Quiet Girl with a Credit Card, also found itself classified as "new country", mainly because ofthe liberal use of pedal steel guitar, a staple of country music."But even pop bands like Custard use pedal steel now," Miller says.
"I still use it now, even though I know it's going to box me in. In some ways it's a way to stir people."
"But I also just love it so much and sounds right. You can use it pop music instead of string sections."
Bringing out the pop elements of Miller's songs in the studio was Deadstar Barry Palmer (ex Hunters and Collectors).
"Barry is a great pop producer. If there was any hint of a hook, Barry would jump on it and lap it up. He'd suggest to repeat a chorus and repeat other bits to get a real pop song structure."
All this talk of musical definitions might sound like splitting hairs, but escaping the country tag means Miller's music can find a broader audience.
"It means I don't have to play sitting on hay bales any more. I get to play on the rock stage."
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