John R. Miller Previews New Album at Second Annual Whizzbang Revue

One of America’s hardest working and most down to Earth songwriters, John R. Miller was pulling overtime on Tuesday night.

After a performance during Concord’s Americana From All Sides pre-Americanafest party at The Optimist, he packed up and headed across Nashville to headline the second annual Whizzbang Revue at Vinyl Lab, a record pressing facility and live event space opened in April 2021.

During the set Miller and his band — multi-instrumentalist J. Tom Hnatow, fiddler Chloe Edmonstone, drummer John Clay and bassist William Matheny — took a deep dive into the Miller's new record, Heat Comes Down, performing over half of the songs from it in succession.

Among them were three of the project’s four singles released thus far — 'Nobody Has To Know Your Mind', 'Ditcher' and 'Conspiracies, Cults & UFOs'. Also mixed in were unreleased tracks 'Insomnia Blues', 'Harper’s Ferry Moon', 'Smokestacks on the Skyline' and 'Press On'.

To cap off the show, Miller reached back into his catalog of music, running through renditions of 'Faustina' and 'Lookin’ Over My Shoulder', from his 2021 album Depreciated.

Miller’s performance was preceded by fellow WhizzbangBAM Management artists Abby Hamilton, Buffalo Wabs & The Price Hill Hustle, William Matheny, Jeremy Short and Charlie Brown Superstar.

Fans in Europe will be able to hear Miller tackle songs from Heat Comes Down live when he joins another Whizzbang artist, Tyler Childers, on his Mule Pull ‘24 tour early next year - including two nights at London’s Eventim Apollo on Feb. 21 and 22.

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