Jody Miller

Blanchard, Oklahoma has an underground high school, as well as Verden High School. From Anadarko, you have to pass through both towns to go to Norman, Oklahoma. Done it hundreds of times.

Back in "Olden Days," when I was in The University, it was a fairly long trip, over one of the oldest and worst roads in Oklahoma. My friend, the oldest working Dentist in Oklahoma, and I would go to OU games together. On the court house in Chickasha, it is written in the stone, up next to the top of the building, "It is the function of the people, to support the state."

"Read that," he would say, EVERY Time we went. "That is totally false. It is just the opposite. The function of the state is to support the people."

Jody Miller is an important person in Country Music History.

Now we will talk about Roger Miller, in depth, in one of these posts, later on. Roger wrote a song, that I have been singing for over 30 years, "King Of The Road." In the US, when you write a song, both words and tune, that song is instantly copyrighted by you. If someone sings it, they pay you royalties on the song. The first to get rich on a song, would be the writer. Writing songs is a huge business in the United States. A writer has to be verbally and musically talented. Roger was both.

A writer put new words to it, and renamed it "Queen Of The House." Would the writer get royalties on it? No. Unless, the original writer would allow it. Look up "Queen Of The House," and see if Roger gave the writer who penned the new words, part of the royalties.

Jody Miller recorded the song, and it was again, an instant hit. Two instant hits and Grammies on the same song. Pretty cool. If a musician wants to make a lot of money, there is a chance, a slim chance, that a writer could make a lot of money on their songs. Here is what happens.

The writer goes to the publishing companies in Nashville and see if they are interested and willing to copyright the song, and then try to sell it to musicians to sing. That is the purpose of the publishing houses in New York, Muscle Shoals, South Carolina, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Bakersfield, California, and Los Angeles, ... not mentioning the hundreds of other hot, writer's cities. Chicago. New Orleans, Austin, Dallas, ... .

Jody Miller now lives full time near Blanchard, Oklahoma, in a comfortable home on, what she calls, "a ranch." I'm not sure that she is on contract with any major lable. If not, Jody will record a new album and pay for it herself. Then she has to try to sell the 1,000 CDs she gets on the first cut.

Jody can pretty much be assured that she will sell that many CDs. Each year she sponsors a festival on her ranch, where she invites other professional singers to join her, and perform, letting the attenders have the opportunity to buy CDs. Right now, Jody sings mostly Gospel and patriotic songs.

As a musician, Jody has an incredible, three octave range. It wasn't luck that gave her the Grammy. She is a very talented musician. I'm not big on karoaky singing, or singing with background tapes. When I say, I'm not big, ... that means, I would never in my life, do that; and I really don't like going to hear other people get up and sing with the "canned" music supporting them.

Marcella and I have seen her sing at The Oklahoma Opry, which used to be a place in OKC, where dreamers hope that they can get the experience to make it in Nashville. It closed, though, because it was not financially able to recover its utilities, even with corporate sponsors.

Now, as a student of The Internet, it is your job to find out, if the company that Jody Miller is a recognized, for profit, ligit music company or is it a "vanity" recording company. A vanity recording company would be one in which you pay the money to have the record produced, and you have the full responsibility to sell your music. Instead of them paying you, to record their music; you pay them, to pay your music. If it is the last way, the Jody Miller, could well have found a rich rancher who will finance her fledgling musician business.

Now, it is not going to be easy to figure out. Don't believe everything you read on the Net. Do some real checking on the company that produces her records. And let me share this with you, Jody Miller does not tour to support her music business.

There are as many "scam companies" in Nashville as there is regular ones.

"Send us your poems, and we will put music to them. Then you can make millions of dollars, selling your music." Anybody want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge?