Ten Favorite Touring Musician Songs: A Showman's Life (#4)

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Merry ho-ho to everyone! I hope you're having a great Christmas, whether you celebrate it religiously or socially. It's a great time of year. My gift to you is another song on my list of favorite songs about musicians on the road. And let's give a shout-out to @TheHorse for knowing this one was coming..... #4: A Showman's Life - Buddy Miller Buddy Miller might be one of country music's best-kept secrets. He's a great songwriter, a fabulous musician (you can hear John Fogerty call Miller's name during his solo on Fogerty's version of "Haunted House"), and has worked with the best of them. He worked behind the scenes on the TV series Nashville, too. Yet, despite this, when I saw him a couple of years ago he was playing in a tiny place in Nashville. And Nashville supposedly "knows" about him!! Speaking of another well-kept secret, here Miller is doing a song written by and originally recorded by the late, great Jesse Winchester. Among the gems Winchester wrote: "Brand New Tennessee Waltz" (most recently covered by Don Henley), "Defying Gravity" (Buffett and Emmylou), "Rhumba Man" (done by Nicolette Larson as "Rhumba Girl"), and the fabulous "Biloxi." Winchester originally recorded this song in 1978 on his album A Touch on the Rainy Side. It's been covered quite a bit, including by Gary Allen and George Strait. My favorite rendition, however, is the loving care that Buddy Miller takes in his delivery. Miller delivers the pain of the lyrics as if he realizes he's been conned into being a musician ("It's a motel room, and a lonely wife...I might've known it, but nobody told me about this part"). The perfect marriage of a great singer/songwriter and a great singer/songwriter. Man, I wish both of them were much, much bigger. A Showman's Life Written by Jesse Winchester Recorded by Buddy Miller From Midnight And Lonesome, 2002 The pretty girls and the wine and the money: