Premiere: Buddy & Julie Miller - 'In The Throes'

Americana legends Buddy & Julie Miller return with the first taste of their new album. The sublime ‘In The Throes’ is a gut-punching chunk of driving alt-country that feels like a knife being twisted deep into the heart of a relationship.

"'In the Throes' deals with the toll taken on a relationship when one partner is constantly gone, on the road, working and preoccupied,” explains Buddy Miller. “'nuff said”.

The title track of their forthcoming album, Buddy & Julie Miller will release In The Throes on September 22nd on New West Records. The 12-song set was produced by Buddy Miller and features Emmylou Harris, Regina McCrary, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams, Gurf Morlix and Matt Slocum of Sixpence None the Richer. It also includes the song ‘Don’t Make Her Cry,’ co-written by Julia Miller with Bob Dylan and Regina McCrary.

In The Throes follows their acclaimed 2019 record Breakdown on 20th Ave. South, which was Buddy & Julie Miller’s first album in a decade.

In the Throes is a deeply soulful collision of dusty country, mournful gospel, cosmic blues and ecstatic R&B. It sounds lively and diverse, eccentric and slightly askew, thorny with desire and blame.

The fearless collection came to life during an intensely creative period for Julie. She says, “I got deep into songwriting mode, and they just kept coming along". Buddy watched with wonder and admiration as his wife filled up notebooks with lyrics and recorded voice memos with melodies. By his count she ended up with more than one hundred songs—some of them fully written, others simply fragments.

She wrote every song on the album with the exception of ‘Don’t Make Her Cry,’ which is a rare co-write between Bob Dylan, Regina McCrary and Julie. McCrary started writing the song several years ago, then met with Dylan, who wrote and rewrote more lyrics. When it came time to write the music, Bob said to Regina to “give it to Buddy Miller”. Buddy then passed it to Julie, who added more lyrics, moved others around and set it to music. Featuring a sympathetic lead vocal from Buddy, ‘Don’t Make Her Cry’ sits naturally on the album: a soft-spoken ode to perseverance and protection.

Buddy & Julie Miller are exclusively premiering ‘In The Throes’ on Holler below.

Named “Instrumentalist of the Year” multiple times by the Americana Music Association, Buddy Miller is a highly sought after producer and guitarist who has worked with Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, John Fogerty, Solomon Burke, Frank Black of the Pixies, Steve Earle and more. He also joined T Bone Burnett on the musical team working on the hit ABC-TV series Nashville, and following Burnett’s departure, became the show’s Executive Music Producer.

Alongside Jim Lauderdale, Buddy is also the co-host of The Buddy & Jim Show on SiriusXM's Outlaw Country.

Julie Miller is a critically acclaimed solo artist whose debut album was released in 1990. A brilliant songwriter, Julie’s songs have been recorded by Levon Helm, Solomon Burke, Little Jimmy Scott, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley, Wynonna Judd, Lee Ann Womack, Dianna Krall and countless others. Between the two, they have a Grammy Award and several nominations, 13 Americana Music Association Awards and scores of gold and platinum records from other artists who have cut their songs.

After over forty years of marriage, Buddy & Julie Miller have recorded only four albums as a duo, but they are always creating and making art together. They’ve pushed hard at the boundaries of Americana music, devising their own idiosyncratic and imaginative equation of styles and genres.

“Music is such a wonderful thing to have in a relationship,” Buddy says. “That’s how we met back in Austin in the mid 70s. We started playing together, and we’ve been playing together ever since. I love her writing and she tolerates my singing and playing. It’s a lot of give and take, but it’s such a joy.”

Buddy and Julie Miller’s In the Throes will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl via New West Records on September 22nd.

A limited “Seaglass Blue” color vinyl edition, autographed by Buddy & Julie Miller, will be available via Independent Retailers and is available for pre-order here.