Loretta Miller, Photograph by Lili Waters
JAZZPARTY vocalist Loretta Miller is gearing up for the release of her debut solo album, Loretta. The album’s latest single, “Passenger Side,” is a bluesy country song with an anthemic chorus.
“I just drive all night,” Miller sings over multi-tracked backing vocals. “Yeah, I feel I’m running out of time.” The loose, electric guitar-driven arrangement has little in common with the polish of contemporary Nashville country. It’s a nod to Miller’s country music heroes Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline.
“The initial plan was to go back to my roots and to make a country record because old school country music is such a big part of my life,” Miller tells Check Check. However, Loretta is not a straight country record. On Miller’s previous single, “Gonna Be Lonely,” countrified slide guitars mingle with a 70s soul arrangement.
“So many genres and styles are within me and a part of my life and musical education and they all tend to weasel their way in,” says Miller.
Loretta is out independently on Wednesday 1 October. Purchase “Passenger Side” here.
Check Check: “Passenger Side” is more of an alt-country tune than “Gonna Be Lonely.” Did you want to show off as many sides of your musical personality as possible on Loretta?
Loretta Miller: I didn’t set out to do that particularly. The initial plan was to go back to my roots and to make a country record because old school country music is such a big part of my life – Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, my queen Patsy Cline, The Louvin Brothers, Dolly, Iris DeMent, and so on. But I’ve never really written specifically for a genre before, despite dabbling and co-writing and performing everywhere for years.
This is big and new for me to create a body of work that’s my own. Of course, I realised what I can’t seem to escape, that so many genres and styles are within me and a part of my life and musical education and they all tend to weasel their way in. I would love to make a hyper-focused album one day, but this time I just wrote and let the songs be what they wanted to be and this track wanted to be cinematic Americana and emotional with a power chorus at the end. I love a bit of drama.
You said you were “swinging between pure despair and a refusal to give up” when you wrote “Passenger Side”. How capable is music – and specifically songwriting – at changing your attitude or perspective on something?
I’m sure music and songwriting are big catalysts for many people on shifting perspectives. You could use your songwriting to tell a story from an angle that isn’t your own or you might find out that the song you’ve been really into was inspired by something completely different than the meaning you placed upon it. Then you can ask yourself the question, “Why did I look at it this particular way?”
But I wouldn’t say my perspective changed because of writing the song. I had been through some really hard stuff, mental health issues and relationship issues all compounding with COVID lock downs. I had been really low and then paused and decided to try a new tactic. The song is the story of the time. Whether or not the tactic worked out can wait for another song maybe on the next record.
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