The tenth solo album from Rhett Miller, A lifetime of riding by night is a study in surrender. Days before undergoing potentially damaging surgery on his vocal cords, the Texas-born singer/songwriter headed into the studio with his Old 97’s bandmate Murry Hammond and recorded a batch of songs, then handed them off for Hammond to complete as he recovered.
Threaded with his lived-in reflection on mortality and love in all forms, the album contains some of Miller’s most unguarded material yet—an achievement he attributes to revelations gleaned through his recent work in teaching songwriting at The New School in Manhattan, as well as the open-hearted nature of his collaborations with an eclectic lineup of co-writers (e.g., Turnpike Troubadours frontman Evan Felker, singer/songwriters Caitlin Rose and Nicole Atkins, former New Yorker editor Ben Greenman). Rooted in Miller’s soul-baring vocal work, A lifetime of riding by night ultimately proves the immense power in releasing all attempts to control the creative impulse.
While Miller has long embraced a certain candor in his songwriting, A lifetime of riding by night reaches an entirely new level of emotional truth thanks to a deliberate shedding of self-consciousness. “Through my experience in teaching, I’ve watched all these young songwriters feel scared to death about bringing their songs in and sharing them with the class,” says Miller, who also leads songwriting retreats in upstate New York. “It’s reminded me to forgive myself for my own anxieties about the vulnerability that’s required for songwriting, and over time that’s made me less fearful.”
After recovering from surgery, Miller headed out on tour with Old 97’s and finally experienced his first listen of A lifetime of riding by night in its completed form. “We were on the West Coast and I sat on a bench looking out onto the ocean, put my headphones on and played the album from start to finish,” he remembers. “It was very moving, partly because I could really feel that the songs were emotional in a way that I might not usually have the bravery to go through with.”
For Miller, that moment also brought a heightened awareness of the rarity and magic of lasting creative connection. “It’s very much a love relationship when people work together the way that Murry and I have since I was a teenager recording my first demos,” he says. “So many people who were once our contemporaries are gone now or haven’t survived this business, but we’re somehow still here and able to create something that feels new and vital and unexpected. I think that’s an incredibly beautiful and special thing.”
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