news | biography | discography | images | downloads | tour | store
News
10-11-04: Universal United House of Prayer reviewed
Pittsburgh Trib — 3½ stars:
Universal United House of Prayer (New West), Buddy Miller. The various emotions that accompany religion and rock 'n' roll would seem to have little in common, quiet moments of reflection being antithetical to the orgasmic release of a guitar solo. Buddy Miller manages to combine the two almost seamlessly on Universal United House of Prayer.
He brings a quiet but unmistakable passion to Mark Heard’s “Worry Too Much” and “Fire and Water,” a song written with wife Julie Miller. And Miller’s moving alt-country cover of Bob Dylan’s epic, “With God on Our Side,” is more fitting than ever in these troubled times. Universal United is truly the rare album of faith that seeks answers instead of purporting to know them.
09-27-04: Universal United House of Prayer reviewed
The New York Times:
“Devastation and divine mercy are the concerns of Buddy Miller’s album Universal United House of Prayer (New West), which finds a new, idiosyncratic take on country gospel. Mr. Miller plays guitar in Emmylou Harris’s band; his wife, Julie Miller, collaborated on some of the new songs. The music can be cozy and old-timey or it can let its electric guitar twang and ring, and the songs are ornery and awestruck all at once.”
Entertainment Weekly: A-
“If anyone else covered ‘With God on Our Side’ for an album of spirituals, you’d figure he missed the memo delineating Dylan’s gospel and protest periods. But Miller means to strike a cautionary note about misguided wartime zeal before resuming a mostly original set that otherwise does run closer to Slow Train’s best tracks (and not just because Dylan’s ‘Christian years’ vocalist Regina McCrary is featured here). However in love with Jesus these songs are, this alt-country hero’s nervous, pit-of-the stomach blues guitar solos unmistakably root them in dangerous times.”
Nashville Scene:
“Buddy Miller’s new set of ‘spirituals,’ Universal United House of Prayer, might include an ecstatic revival of The Louvin Brothers’ ‘There’s a Higher Power’ as well as several other songs about turning to Jesus as a source of comfort and strength. It’s hardly an album of soothing hymns or shouts of thanksgiving, though. A righteous anger courses through the record’s 11 tracks — not toward God, but toward humanity’s interpretation of God’s will — all of the songs set to an ominous sound that cracks like thunder.
Indeed, the country shuffles and rootsy rockers of Miller’s previous albums have been replaced by a raw yet layered mix of blues, soul, gospel and folk. The lyrics cry for justice as souls gather together to find strength in a power they believe is about unity and sustenance rather than force and Miller, of course, is singing about faith during a time of uncertainty, fear and chaos, much of it fueled by religious zealotry and fundamentalism. At the album’s center is a seething take of Bob Dylan’s ‘With God on Our Side’ that builds in intensity over nine tightly wound minutes. Written during the height of the Cold War, Dylan’s 40-year-old lyrics question how any nation can presume that a military mission is a holy one.
The album opens on a similar note, with Mark Heard’s searching ‘Worry Too Much.’ With lines about bullies, the vanity of nations and tribes in war paint, this soulful stomper establishes Miller’s spiritual conflict — not with his own beliefs, but with those of much of the world in which he lives.
The proceedings roll from dark-toned blues to church-based rave-ups to acoustic meditations, from the ferocious ‘Don’t Wait’ to the wistful ‘Wide River to Cross’ to the jug-band whimsy of ‘This Old World.’ Offering a moment of levity on an otherwise heavy album, the last of these nevertheless cuts to the heart of Miller’s message: ‘Why is war in the heart of man?’ ”
09-23-04: It takes a worried man
Buddy Miller’s brand new album Universal United House of Prayer is in stores now and has just been reviewed by The Village Voice. “...Buddy doesn’t truck with the conventions of ‘CCM,’ as contemporary Christian music is fondly called.”
Read the review | Buddy Miller’s official website
***PLEASE NOTE***
Buddy Miller’s OFFICIAL website is www.buddyandjulie.com, NOT www.buddymiller.com. To get the latest news on Buddy, please visit www.buddyandjulie.com.
