My name is Emmett Dewey Miller. Son of Pink & Lena Miller. I was an American minstrel show singer noted for a ("Clarinet Voiced") yodel-like falsetto voice, born in Macon, Georgia (like Little Richard) in 1900 on February 2nd. In addition to touring with Neil OBrien Minstrels and The Dan Fitch Minstrels, I made several recordings for Okeh Records between 1924 and 1930. The 1924 session was just me & my piano player friend, Walter Rothrock. My last released recording session was for Bluebird Records in 1936, which resulted in two final records. These later records sound good to my dead ears but ssome say they lack the bounce of the earlier sessions. Because minstrel shows are now looked upon with no small degree of embarrassment, I've been mostly forgotten despite a vocal style that influenced early country singers like Jimmie Rodgers and a backup group - The Georgia Crackers - that included Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, and Eddie Lang. I have fuzzy recollections of a young Jimmie Rodgers in blackface up there in Asheville in 1925 and 1927. I'm sure he liked my style. You can hear my touch in most all of his recordings. I continued to perform in minstrel shows well into the 1950's, long after they fell out of fashion. I finally returned to Macon where I died of 'carcinoma of the esophagus' (don't mix your yodeling with your drinking!) on March 29th, 1962; by then a penniless alcoholic. I'm buried in East Macon's Fort Hill Cemetery.
My influence on early country is most apparent in Bob Wills' recording of "I Ain't Got Nobody" & "Right or Wrong" and Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues," which closely copy my recordings of the same songs. Milton Bown was a big fan & his Light Crust Dough Boys often played my tunes. Also, as I said before, Jimmie Rodgers and I had many familiar traits. Merle Haggard says that I'm an influence & Leon Redbone is like a musical stepson! I happened to record some good songs during a short period and I enjoyed a good amount of local noteriety. If'n I hadn't had my trick yodel & Okeh's amazing back up band I'd be left to un-remastered obscurity.
I did my first and only film in 1951. 'Yes, Sir. Mr. Bones'. It's a great little movie, some might say If you want a copy, go see my blog.
Here's a clip of Scatman Crothers doing a song from that movie & if you listen close you'll hear me yelpin' him on!
Nick Tosches has written extensively about me since the 1970s, and his 2001 book Where Dead Voices Gather serves as both a biography of mine and a sort of history of minstrelsy. In spite of Tosches' tireless research, much of my life remains a mystery, and probably always will. I think Nick had a crush on me, how else could he be so obssesed. Maybe I was the link between genres, but I see myself more of as a lucky (slightly)drunk hillbilly/jazz/minstrel song stylist than anything else. Of course, I was pretty damned good! Sure I worked hard but so did countless others I met along the way. Dying penniless can even make an entertainer moan!
If you like obscure musicians like me let me recommend some of my contemporaries to you. Roy Evans, Jimmie Rogers, Annette Hanshaw, Jay C. Flippen, Cliff Edwards, Marion Harris, Papa Charlie Jackson, & Lee Morse (A Real Yodeling Blues Lady, check out Mail Man Blues!).
So the moral is, if you can't beat 'em, learn to yodel. Then get Eddie Lang, the Dorsey Brothers & the like to play on your records.
