Blue Jean Blues

TED MILLER'S life has all the elements that make good country songs: smoky bar rooms, dusty rodeos, lonely nights and empty days, long distance loving and lots of driving... and behind it all, that steady beat of a guitar. Bring in the crying fiddles, too... this can be depressing stuff, enough to give any man the blues. When that man is a singer and songwriter, he puts a melody and a voice to his feelings. When that singer/songwriter is TED MILLER, he pours out his heart, adds a "chugging" outlaw sound, and then, two- steps you right out of the mood with BLUE JEAN BLUES! Ted Miller's life making music can be a lot of fun, too!

Though you might think it was about the official country dress code, some sort of country anthem, this "Blue Jean" is Ted's wife, Patsy. She stays at home in the Windermere Valley of Eastern B.C. with their two young daughters, while he tours the country club circuit throughout Western Canada. The song's inspiration: a phone call home after completing the week at the Calgary's Country Roads Saloon, two months into another endless road trip, we can all relate to those BLUE JEAN BLUES.

Ted's been relating his life in song for a good part of it! Raised in Calgary, he moved to B.C. as a teen. He had two guitar teachers: his father, who taught him to flat pick when he was seven, and later, he took lessons with Roy Watt. It wasn't long before Ted had joined the family dance band, "The Mainlanders." With Mom on the keyboards; Dad on bass; and brother, Jim, on steel guitar, Ted sang and picked all those country classics as they entertained every weekend at small town honky-tonks and rodeo dances. Soon, he was playing day and night: in the calf roping and bareback events and in the foot-stompin' ...gathering more material for songs.

Then six years ago, Ted gave up his afternoon activities and the family group, in search of wider horizons for his life and for his music. Forming his own band, "Those Rodeo Cowboys," he now works such top clubs as Vancouver's JR Country and Edmonton's Cook County Saloon.

In 1983, Ted released his first tribute in song, RODEO COWBOYS on Rodeo Records. It became the title cut on his first album, recorded with producer, Ron Mahonin, at Northern Productions and released later that year on Country Style Records. Shortly thereafter, that company ceased operations, leaving Ted with a severe case of "the blues."

He never quit writing tunes though, and he took time preparing himself for his next recording project. Selecting Sundae Sound Studios with engineer Rob Bartlett, Ted and some of "Those Rodeo Cowboys" made the most out of those BLUE JEAN BLUES. Thanks to Dick Damron, it's released on Music Connection Records. Ted credits lan Tyson and Dick as the two that have helped him most in this business, with their advice and their example, as they have so many young singers.

"I'd like to think the song's a little like Jimmie Rodgers would write and little like Waylon Jennings would sing," says the soft-spoken Miller. Country Blues...BLUE JEAN BLUES... the essence of Ted Miller's music and most of country music! The life of an entertainer is demanding and difficult, but it does make for some great country songs.