In The Throes

Album review

Since their self-titled debut together in 2001, the Millers—Buddy, a supreme guitar texturalist and wise singer/songwriter Julie—have made three honest, unpretentious Americana albums as a couple. (Both also have solo careers.)  Their 40-year marriage has not only survived but it's been apparent since their definitive cover of Richard Thompson's "Keep Your Distance" on their first album that somehow these two musical pros spark each other's best creative impulses. Julie writes the songs and Buddy devises the settings. They sing together and alone. Music is clearly at the core of their relationship. It's a point made abundantly clear in the aptly titled duet, "I Love You," which also happens to be In the Throes' most engaging melody with Julie's words at their nimble best: "I'd go to any extent/ Call up the president/ To erect a monument/ I love you/ Nothing can make it untrue/ Nothing can make it undo/ I'd take a bullet for you/ I love you." While both are acceptable singers on their own, together the vocal blend makes for a transcending force. Their duet singing, with Emmylou Harris added as a third voice, rises to an even higher level in the sweet and sad eulogy, "The Last Bridge You Will Cross," which Julie wrote upon hearing that Congressman John Lewis had died. The loud rocked-up title track features Julie's now raspy voice alone as the regretful lover admitting faults, on the edge of self-loathing: "I'd be independent if I could/ I can't do anything I should/ I'm just a little bitty baby now/ I oughta grow up, but I don't know how." Their voices together add urgency to the raucous, "The Painkillers Ain't Working"—"I've been biting this bullet so long I'm gonna break my teeth/ Feels like the bed I'm on has fire underneath." Bob Dylan had a hand in writing lyrics for an early version of the solemn "Don't Make Her Cry," which Julie eventually set to music and Buddy sings with passion. Recorded in their home studio with Buddy as producer/engineer, the voices—not surprisingly—are particularly well-recorded. Musical guests include Austin guitarist Gurf Morlix, Alison Krauss collaborator Viktor Krauss on bass, and bluegrass fiddler Stuart Duncan. The Millers are a formidable musical duo who effortlessly share the spotlight while pursuing their passion together. © Robert Baird/Qobuz