Dean Miller's third album may not reach the lofty sales figures referred to in its title, but it certainly is a strong and well-crafted work that represents his best music to date. Free of the intrusive presence of major-label A&R people (who take a pounding in his tune "Music Executive"),
Miller has been able to craft a set of songs that are long on craft but short on needless gloss --
Miller and his crack studio band give this material a strong and professional sound, but without sounding like he's bending over backward for a hit, and in a better world this is just what country radio would sound like these days.
Miller also knows how to write a well-crafted song, a gift he inherited from his father
Roger Miller, and while "Hard Love," "Whiskey Wings," and "On a Good Day" don't break much new ground, they work the traditional C&W archetypes of women, liquor, and hard times with enough smarts and passion to make the results sound fresh. He also knows a good song when he hears it, as evidenced by great covers of
Fred Eaglesmith's "105" and "I've Been a Long Time Leaving," which his dad wrote (and
Waylon Jennings cut on the classic
Dreaming My Dreams). It's anyone's guess if
Dean Miller will actually move a million units of
Platinum, but it certainly deserves to be heard by a lot more people than his flawed first and second efforts. ~ Mark Deming