Singer- songwriter Miller Campbell told David Hennessy about her debut album and the connection she feels to Ireland as the country meant so much to her late cousin, country star Glen Campbell
Following the impact of her breakout recent single Bad, which racked up thousands of streams in just days with a buzz quickly building around it, Montana-born Irish-American rocker Miller Campbell has released her self-titled debut album Miller Campbell last week via Legere Records.
This month Miller tours Europe. The only problem is she is not getting to Ireland but she is working on that.
Growing up in Montana, Miller often heard her mother talk about visiting Tipperary in Ireland as a teenager during a European road trip.
This included long, vivid stories of the green countryside, bustling pubs, and the music that seemed to spill out onto the streets.
Her cousin, the legendary Glen Campbell, would also share his own memories of Ireland, recalling visits with family there while touring the world.
Though she’s yet to get to Ireland herself, Miller has carried those stories quietly promising she would one day make the trip.
With the momentum of Bad and her debut album, she’s now setting her sights on adding an Irish tour date next year as she builds her audience across the US and Europe.
SPIN Magazine described her sound as “the no-bullshit defiance of Chrissie Hynde with the gleeful abandon of The Go-Go’s,” while Uncut and Pitchfork contributor Stephen Deusner calls the album “one of the most thrilling releases of the year.”
While she started writing and singing in a country style, like her well known cousin, she has evolved into a more rock sound.
Along the way her songwriting has earned her a Billboard Heatseekers Award and praise from American Songwriter.
Miller chatted to us ahead of the album’s release.
How does it feel to be releasing your debut album?
“It’s been so cool.
“It’s been such a long time coming because we finished this record almost two years ago so we’ve slowly been releasing singles here and there.
“The home stretch is here.”
I’ve been listening the album and really enjoying it. There seems to be a common theme with a lot of the songs of things coming to an end, moving on but still being okay and nobody’s fool any more. I hear it in Bad and many others, would you agree with that interpretation?
“Absolutely.
“I mean not only was the record itself musically a transition for me because I started in country music and now I’m very much into the rock world but also, thematically, it’s just about transitions all across the record.
“Self Medicated is about different vices you might have and things like that so it’s all a big transition theme, for sure.”
You say it is overdue because you had it recorded so long ago. I was wondering do you feel it was overdue also just because you have been releasing music for a while already?
“I don’t know.
“I’d like to say yes but I think everything has its time and if I had not met my collaborator, Matt Drenik, who wrote all the songs with me when I did, we probably wouldn’t have made this kind of record so I guess everything happens when it’s meant to be.”
You’re coming to tour Europe, what is it like to get out of America? Is it a new thing for you?
“This will be my second European tour.
“I just was there in December.
“I cannot wait to get back.
“It’s the best audiences, everyone is so musically invested in every show.
“It’s a totally different experience than American crowds, for sure.”
The shame about it is there’s no Irish date, right?
“I’m looking to change that.
“I’ve been so excited about how much Ireland has embraced my record so far.
“It’s been pretty amazing the last few weeks.
“I mean even talking with you, this is so cool.
“I never thought I would get to do it.
“We’re looking at next spring.
“I want to come really bad.”
You grew up listening to both your well known cousin Glen and your mother speaking about Ireland. It means a lot to you, doesn’t it?
“Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
“I think anytime you go somewhere where your family’s from, it just feels like home.
“The people just feel like your people.
“My mom really referenced that when she was on a road trip in the 80s, she went to Ireland and she just talked about how much she loved all the people so much and it was her favourite spot she visited.
“I’ve been trying to get back for a long time.”
And what about your cousin Glen Campbell who loved Ireland so much..
“I actually never got to really visit with him much about his Irish touring.
“I was quite young when he was on the road on his farewell tour so we didn’t get to go into that aspect.
“I really wish I could have but I’ve read all his interviews and everything, it was like his prime spot.
“He references it so much because his mother was part of the Stone family over there and was just really invested in their culture.
“It definitely has been one of his top places he’s highlighted and now his daughter is over there on tour so obviously the family wants to come back.”
That’s the singer- songwriter Ashley Campbell, seems like the musical talent has really gone to the younger generation in your family. Did you always know you were going to sing or did it come later to you?
“It was later.
“I didn’t even begin my first band until I was almost graduated from university.
“I always was musical.
“I always sang and did things like that but I never thought it was like a job, a career, so I went to school.
“I was going to work for the State Department, the government.
“That’s what I wanted to do: Travel the world and do things like that.
“And then I started my first bar band and I was like, ‘Oh, you can make a living. You can do this’.”
You say you were going to work for the government, wasn’t it actually the CIA that tried to recruit you?
“I had a full alternate life planned.
“It was ready to go and I was supposed to literally move to Turkey two weeks after I graduated.
“I just started my first band and I was like, ‘Well, I’ll go play music for the summer and then I’ll go to work’.
“And then I just never went to work.”
It was the things that you studied that brought you to the CIA’s attention, wasn’t it?
“Exactly, yeah.
“I have two degrees.
“One is in international military science and one is in Turkish so that was my path and I just dove into music.
“I took a total left turn really quickly.”
I don’t know whether to believe you though. I mean you could still in the CIA but undercover..
“I really wish that they had thought to do this because maybe they could fund my records.
“I’m joking.”
You mentioned starting off with a country flavour. Has your progression to your current more rock sound been very natural?
“Yes, definitely because I’ve always been, as a songwriter, a lyricist first rather than a musical composer so I write lyrics and then I add the music later.
“For me country music was really natural to start in because it’s really based in that storytelling kind of format so I started with that but all the music I listened to is really rock music so it was just very natural for me to make a record that I just wanted to listen to.”
One description I was reading compares you to Chrissie Hynde and The Go-Gos, how do you like descriptions like that?
“That was a dream, it was the coolest references.
“I love The Pretenders.
“I love the Go-Gos.
“We have a lot of Tom Petty influences and The Bangles and The Cars and just all of my favourite bands, so to have Spin magazine throw out those references I was like, ‘Great, okay, I’ll take it’.”
The 80s influence is unmistakable in your music but I was wondering what more contemporary artists do you like listening to?
“That’s a good question.
“Florence and the Machine would probably be one of my top ones right now.
“Somebody just turned me on to an Irish band, Soda Blonde and I love them.
“They’re so good.”
Soda Blonde are great, are there other Irish acts, even from years ago, that have inspired you?
“Well actually there’s some backing vocals on my record done by Johanna Cranitch but she was the backing singer of The Cranberries so that was really cool to have her on the record.”
Are you a Cranberries fan as well?
“Absolutely, how could you not be?”
I mentioned your late cousin, Glen Campbell. What is it like to grow up in a family with such a famous musician. Does it bring pressure when you’re launching your own music or does it feel great to be carrying on the tradition?
“Definitely both.
“I’m so inspired by him.
“I’m so in awe of his talent.
“He makes me want to be a better guitarist every time I watch his videos or listen to him play.
“He was so, so good at guitar as well as other things but I think more than anything, it makes me nostalgic.
“I wish I had been able to play a show with him.
“He had already long retired when I started playing music.
“I wish I could have worked with him a million times over.
“It just didn’t pan out but it’s always great to have that legacy and just that kind of family support in general around music.
“I’ve got lots of cousins and things that have come out of the woodwork that are musicians that I’ve met through that so that’s been fun.”
He would be proud to see what you’re doing now, wouldn’t he?
“If anyone can understand the hustle and grind of musician stuff, it’s him. He’s done it all.”
What have you been most proud of up to now? What leaps out as a highlight?
“Oh God.
“The European tour we did with Young Gun Silver Fox in December was like a dream.
“It had been on my top three wish list.
“I remember telling my manager in London, ‘I want to tour Europe, I want to get my first record deal and I want to release a full length album’.
“She’s like, ‘Cool, we’re going to do all that this year’.
“I was like, ‘Oh, okay. That’s great’.
“And we just worked so hard and I signed my first record deal a couple weeks ago.
“Now we’re going on our second European tour and these venues are just so massive and amazing and the people that come are just the best crowds so getting to do these things I always dreamed of this year has been incredible.”
Which song off the new album gets the biggest reaction live?
“Bad definitely does and Self Medicated does as well.
“And it’s so weird: I’m 1000s of miles away from where I live and when people sing along to a lyric I’m like, ‘Oh, you know who I am’.
“That’s so weird to me still.
“It’s so cool that my record has actually done way better in Europe than in the States.
“It’s just a different sort of sound and vibe that has resonated and that’s been just cool to think that somebody in Germany or the Netherlands is listening to my music right now.”
What has it been like to get reaction in Ireland?
“Just unexpected.
“What a cool music scene you guys have there.
“The way Irish people speak, in general, to me, is very musical.
“I love it.
“It sounds great.
“But as a culture, I think you really are very lyrical as well so knowing that it resonates with people that really appreciate the spoken word and how things are formatted and music in general is an extra bonus.
“It’s been really cool that Irish people have taken to it.”
That’s why it’s going to be special when you do get to Ireland..
“I’m so ready to go.
“It would be really amazing.
“I can’t wait so I’m working really hard to come over next year.”
You say this record is a transition, it’s completely different from Sweet Whiskey which was your 2017 debut EP..
“Oh yeah, those were some of my first attempts at songwriting and they’re great.
“They obviously made me a musician and I got to tour off them and do the things that I wanted to do but there wasn’t really that sort of intention behind writing it.
“I just would write a song and then record it so it wasn’t a thoughtful collection of tracks.”
Bad has been really well received. You have also put out the singles All Night and 3 AM. Did you pick the singles because they were particularly meaningful to you?
“Absolutely.
“There were the moments when you’re in the studio and you’re like, ‘This is a really good song. I like this so much even it being my own voice’, which is sometimes a little weird so in selecting those ones, we picked other singles off the record to release first to really build up the rebrand and introduce, ‘Hey, this is the new rock sound. This is what we’re going with’.
“So that when we finally released Bad and 3am and All Night, we had our audience and we had our core fan base to keep building on.
“That was the thought in it.
“I didn’t lose any of my fan base from country music to rock which was really cool because I think they just loved what we were doing.
“My country audience in general was quite older so to have all these 24-year-olds and younger kids reaching out and making Tik Tok videos and funny things with my music has been really cool to see how organic it has been.
“It’s not been a big amount of pressure for me to promote the songs because it just kind of has happened on its own, which has been great.”
Were you prepared for Bad being such an anthem then?
“Oh, it was still a surprise because I had released a couple of singles before that so I was like, ‘Okay, I know what to expect, how this is going to go: It’s a slow burn’.
“And from the first couple of days it was like thousands of streams and people were sharing it.”
Having this album recorded for two years, Miller already has a follow up ready to go.
What’s next?
“Lots of plans.
“We’re going to tour a tonne.
“The new record is ready to release.
“We’ve got that going and just continuing to build on everything.
“There’s a lot of places I want to see and play.
“Definitely Ireland.”
Miller Campbell is out now on Legere Records. It is also available on limited edition vinyl.
Miller tours Europe this month.
For more information, click here.
