Let’s get it out of the way: Yes, singer-songwriter Miller Campbell is related to Glen Campbell, but only distantly. “I’m just one of the many cousins,” she laughs. “It’s a massive family.” In fact, despite how large he looms in family lore, she counts herself more fan than kin. “A lot of my new record was inspired by that era when he was in Los Angeles doing studio work, when he played for the Byrds, the Mamas & the Papas, and the Beach Boys. They’ve all been a huge influence on me, so indirectly he has, too.”
Like Glen, Miller gracefully blurs genre lines: She prizes the strong foundation of country songwriting, the sonic possibilities of classic pop, and the energy and attitude of rock and roll. The songs on her rambunctious self-titled album are crammed with coiled guitar licks, taut rhythms, and skinny-tie synths, all bound together by her forceful vocals that recall Pat Benatar, the Go-Go’s, and other badass women.
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Those were her childhood heroes, long before she gravitated toward country music. Growing up in Seattle, Miller loved “80s power rock, this really middle American kind of sound, the Cars and early Tom Petty.” Her favorite record, then as now, was the Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl, and her obsession with Chrissie Hynde shines through in her own songs, in particular her whoo-ooh-ooh vocal interjections on “Hotel New Wave” and her snarling delivery of “3 AM.”
Despite her famous cousin, Miller didn’t think she was allowed to pursue music as a career. “I came from a very working-class family. My grandparents were miners. I didn’t think I could actually do that as a job, even though I knew I loved music and inhaled it every day.” Miserable at her day job doing payroll sales, she quit and devoted herself to music. Remarkably, Seattle turned out to be a good launchpad for a country singer; she made two twangy EPs and even opened for Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum, but she still felt restless. “There was never a plan of what I was going to write for my full-length debut or even how I was going to write. I think the expectation was that I was going to make a country album, but I didn’t want to have any expectations.”
To find a new direction, Miller took songwriting trips to work with new people in new places. After stopovers in Texas and Tennessee, she found what and who she was looking for in Los Angeles — specifically, Matt Drenik, a composer and recording artist who works under the name Battleme. “He understood that I wanted to make a record that was fun to listen to. I wanted melodies that everyone could sing along to on first listen, and I wanted guitar riffs that were real statements.” In addition to their love of ‘80s New Wave, they also discovered a shared songwriting philosophy, one that emphasized sturdy foundations and a storyteller’s flair. “We wanted to write so that I could sing every song with just an acoustic guitar and it would still sound great. Everything else is just a layer on top of that. It allowed us to be freer and go in different directions. I’m glad I started in country, but this record is different. It’s me to the core. I feel like I’ve been working toward this sound my whole life.”
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