RAMBLIN ROUND: Roger that: Oklahoma's Grammy 'King of the Road'

Apr. 4—Ask any typical music lover to name Oklahoma's greatest musicians, and some of the most revered names in music are sure to come up on their short list.

The usual suspects come to mind, some of whom are even known well enough to be identified by their first names only, including Woody, Reba, Garth and Leon.

One name that's not mentioned as often when the Oklahoma connection comes up is Roger Miller, even though he grew up in the Sooner state. Miller was born in Forth Worth, Texas, but by the age of 3 he was living in Erick, Oklahoma.

Unlike the aforementioned superstars, Roger Miller is not immediately identifiable among most music lovers by his first name only — although his debut album included a play on words featuring his moniker with the title, "Roger and Out."

Miller seemed to appear out of nowhere when his hit single, "Dang Me," blasted up the charts to peak at No. 1 in 1964, but he'd already been a working musician and songwriter for years, even penning the hit song "Billy Bayou" for Jim Reeves in 1958.

He'd also penned other hits, such as "When Two Worlds Collide" and "Invitation to the Blues." He played fiddle in Minnie Pearl's band for awhile, but then found a unique paring with another artist.

In what must have been one of the most memorable bands of all time, Miller played in Ray Price's touring band, the Cherokee Cowboys, at the same time as some other up-and-comers, such as Willie Nelson, Johnny Bush and Donald Lytle. Donald who?

Lytle would later adopt the name of Johnny Paycheck — I'm sure no one ever thought that was his real name — and jump on the so-called outlaw music bandwagon. He scored his biggest hit with the song "Take This Job and Shove It." Written by real-life outlaw David Allan Coe, Paycheck's version hit No. 1 in 1978.

Bush would go on to become an acclaimed honk-tonk singer and the writer of Willie's longtime concert opener, "Whiskey River."

Willie Nelson would go on to become, well, Willie Nelson, while Miller would find more success in recording, songwriting and even hosting his own network television show.

Price would later joke that he would like to put that version of the Cherokee Cowboys back together again, but it would cost him millions of dollars.

While growing up in Oklahoma, Miller lived with his aunt and uncle. He soon turned to music and even had an in-law from Erick, Sheb Wooley, who had married one of Miller's cousins and scored with the huge 1958 novelty hit, "The Flying Purple People Eater." No doubt growing up around Wooley, who would return to Erick for family visits, had an influence on Miller's later penchant for novelty songs.

Some stories state Miller had to join the Army at the age of 17 after stealing a guitar in Texas and carrying it back to Oklahoma. Whatever the reason, he wound up in the military. In one of his well-known one-liners, Miller joked he finished his high school education while serving in Korea, "Clash of '52."

Although he scored those early hits, Miller did not achieve wide mainstream success until he recorded a batch of songs for the fledgling Smash record label that wound up on his first album, originally titled "Roger and Out."

With all of the songs recorded over a two-day period, a couple of them started Miller on the road to international recognition.

"Dang Me," featuring Miller's acoustic guitar and scat singing between the humorous verses, became a huge hit, shooting to number one, where it spent five weeks on the country charts, and to number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.

Miller followed it with "Chug-a-Lug," another huge hit about a teenaged Miller and some buddies finding a covered-up moonshine still — and partaking of the moonshine — during a 4-H Club and FFA field trip to a farm.

That collection of songs earned Miller his first five Grammy awards, including one for Best New Country and Western Artist. He was just getting started though — because the following year he racked up another six Grammys , mainly for his timeless song, "King of the Road."

It started with, of all things, an acoustic stand-up bass solo, backed by finger-snapping, before Miller sings those timeless words inspired by a sign he saw outside Chicago: "Trailers for sale or rent, rooms to let, fifty cents."

I once heard Tennessee Ernie Ford declare it lyrically one of the greatest songs he'd ever heard.

Plenty of listeners agreed, with the song zooming to number 1 on the country music charts and to number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Miller racked up an amazing six Grammy awards for that song and the album featuring it, "The Return of Roger Miller." In addition to a slew of country music Grammy Awards, he also won Grammys for Best Contemporary (Rock 'n' Roll) Single and Vocal.

Even an "answer" song, "Queen of the House" by Jody Miller, with new lyrics to Miller's original melody, won the Grammy for Best Female Country and Western Performance.

Miller released other hits, many featuring his quirky humor. When the songs no longer came as quickly, he recorded those written by others. Most famously, he was the first to record "Me and Bobby McGee," written by then-budding songwriter Kris Kristofferson. He also wrote and recorded the soundtrack to the Walt Disney animated film, "Robin Hood."

He teamed up again with Willie and Ray Price in 1983 to record "Old Friends," a song Miller had written for his family back in Oklahoma.

Eventually though, the hits stopped coming, but the muse hadn't left Roger Miller, He accepted an offer to write the score for a Broadway play, "Big River," based on the Mark Twain novel, "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

The play opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on Broadway, becoming a huge critical and commercial success, winning seven Tony Awards, including the one awarded to Miller for Best Score, which includes one of his later most- loved songs, the shimmering "River in the Rain."

Miller largely retreated to Santa Fe, New Mexico afterward, although he had started on a tour featuring just himself and his guitar, before being diagnosed with a terminal illness. He died in 1992 when he was only 56 years-old.

His legacy can be seen in the Country Music Hall of Fame, where his staggering 11 Grammy Awards have been displayed.

He faced some tough competition when he won those 1965 Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary (Rock 'n' Roll) Single and Best Contemporary (Rock 'n' Roll) Performance, Male.

His main competition, in both categories — a little ditty recorded by a band you may have heard of: "Yesterday" by the Beatles.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.