Miles Miller

My musical “career” started in high school with marching, symphonic, and jazz band at Woodford County High School in Versailles, KY. Our band director Matt Skaggs was a drummer, who had obtained a full ride to the University of Kentucky for jazz. He was, and still is in some way, my drumming mentor. It all began under his teaching; everything from technique and reading, to feel and groove.

As far as my love for music goes, that was passed down from my family, and mostly my father. I can remember my dad singing and playing Stevie Wonder on the piano in my early childhood. He was also the musical director at our church in Versailles, and let me join him during Sunday services when I turned 14. My first job playing drums was at that church, every Sunday for 4 years.

After graduating high school in 2011, I attended Belmont University for two semesters studying Commercial Music. There I was fortunate enough to study under Bobby Brown and Lenny Kravitz’ drummer, Zoro. Needless to say, those lessons changed everything for me. My technique was and still is a result of his teaching. I went from playing with my arms, to putting the groove in my hands and wrists.

Though short, my time at Belmont was a productive learning experience. It made me realize that I was talented and driven, and I could pursue what I wanted. Even knowing a degree in music was very credible, I decided it just wasn’t for me. I wanted to learn from the road. After my decision to leave Belmont and pursue music further, Zoro offered me an audition for a repertory theatre in a town called Creede, Colorado. I auditioned and got the gig, as the drummer for the Creede Repertory Theatre. There, I was under the instruction of a conductor and pianist, performing the Broadway musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone.” It was a challenging gig for me at that time, but had served a much bigger purpose. I was out in the world playing music.

Flashback to 2009, I was a 16-year-old high school kid, putting “drum covers” on YouTube, for no reason other than I found it helpful to watch myself play. I’d gotten a message on MySpace, saying producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton) had seen my videos and wanted to see me play in person. So my father and I drove down to Nashville, and met Dave to play for him. He told me to, “Keep doing what you’re doing” and that was that. 3 years later, in the summer of 2012 in Creede, Colorado as the theatre gig was coming to an end, I received another phone call from Dave Cobb, saying this time that he found a gig for me. The gig was for a Kentucky singer/songwriter from Kentucky, named Sturgill Simpson.

Having never heard of him or known each other, we talked for a while on the phone. The first question he asked me was, “Does Kyle Fannin still teach Social Studies at Woodford County High School?” Shocked, I said, “I’d say he probably does.” Sturgill and I had graduated from the same high school 14 years apart. He asked if I wanted join his band and we hit the road. A few months after that phone call, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee to play with Sturgill, who had just finished his first record, “High Top Mountain.” Since that time, I have recorded 2 records with Sturgill; “Metamodern Sounds In Country Music” and “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth” which is currently nominated at the 2017 Grammy Awards for “Album of the Year” and “Best Country Album.”

Over the past 5 years of playing music with Sturgill, we’ve toured 45 of 50 states 5 or 6 times over, 5 of 10 provinces in Canada, 8 countries in Europe on 4 different tours, and even more to come in 2017. We’ve opened for Dwight Yoakam, Zac Brown Band, the Avett Brothers and Guns N’ Roses. We’ve also appeared twice on the “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Conan” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” We have also performed on the new “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” and as of recently, “Saturday Night Live.”