Click Image for a clearer, larger view

Edgar Dalton Miller

This is the only existing photo of Edgar Dalton Miller. He is the son of Clarence J. Miller and Nettie Mae Marshall. They had two boys Arthur and Edgar. Edgar was two years younger than his brother Arthur Jason Miller.

Edgar's Grampa Frank Miller was a fiddler, and so was his dad Clarence J and brother Arthur; Edgar loved the fiddle too so he made one from an orange crate. He died one year later of diphtheria at the age of 22.

Edgar's Grampa Frank Miller died in 1929, Edgar died in 1932; the Millers were losing fiddlers fast. Arthur left Washington County Indiana seeking work in about 1935, while Clarence and Nettie remained at the home place until moving to uptown Hardinsburg Indiana during the 1960's.

Country Music

A Miller Family Tradition

Franklin Pierce Miller 1851-1929

Clarence J. Miller 1886-1969

Arthur Jason Miller 1908-1988

Maurice Arthur Miller 1934-2000

James Arthur Miller 1963-     

 These are the Millers who have carried on a musical family tradition 5 generations and spanning over 100 years of playing in Indiana. There may have been more generations, but this many we know for sure.

 There are other family members who have played and are not included in the list. In fact there are 6 generations of continuous musicians in the family, they just don't have the last name Miller now. In fact I have discovered families in Illinois and Indiana that are involved with music and performance.

Frank, Clarence, Arthur, and Maurice were all fiddlers, whereas Jimbo took a liken to the dobro.

Art, Clarence, Jim and Luke Miller

 4 Out of 5 Generations of Miller Musicians.

Edgar Dalton Miller's

Orange Crate Fiddle

Click on the image for a larger view!

Above are pictures of the fiddle Edgar made by hand. Clarence and Nettie lived their whole lives without electricity or running water at the house so when Edgar built this fiddle by hand, that's exactly what I mean. He probably started out with an orange crate and a pocket knife.

In 2007 the fiddle will be 76 years old and the finish, the wood, everything about the fiddle, was made from what a poor boy could gather up. The fiddle is over three times older than the man who built it. It's a wonder it is still in one piece considering the materials he used. Other than the finish, it is completely original right down to the hand carved tuning pegs. Not bad for a 21 year old guy with a sixth grade education!

I discussed this fiddle with the John Hay Museum personnel in Salem Indiana in 2004 and they were interested in putting it on display. Edgar lived his whole life in Washington County Indiana; he was born there, he died there, and is buried in Hardinsburg, Washington County Indiana, USA. I can't think of a better place for it to memorialize Edgar. He built the fiddle from an orange crate in Washington County 76 years ago, so its obvious home is in the John Hay Museum. There, many others can admire the craftsmanship of a 21 year old who really wanted to play a fiddle, so he built one, only to die a year later of diphtheria. The fiddle's story makes it even more valuable. It represents the backwoods traditional music culture of southern Indiana, and the early death of a country boy's dream of playing the fiddle.

The Miller family was surprised to find that Edgar's fiddle had been given to his brother Arthur; rumor had it that Edgar had built a fiddle but no one had ever seen it. The fiddle was assumed to be burned up in a fire Clarence and Nettie Miller had at their house in Washington County. Evidently, they gave it to Arthur, who stashed it away and never showed it to anyone.

My dad, Luke Miller, found the fiddle amongst his dad's (Arthur's) things after his death in 1988. Dad gave me Edgar's fiddle prior to his death in 2000. It has been passed down 4 generations now and has been literally worn out. I believe that Clarence worked out the loss of his son - on the fiddle his son built. No one else had seen the fiddle, so Arthur could not have worn it out. I'm sure many a tear has fallen on this fiddle; it was Edgar's last voice of expression in this world.

The Miller's Washington County Home

Clarence's dad, Franklin Pierce Miller, moved to Mitchell in Lawrence County before 1910 where he and two of his sons, Oscar and Milus, were working at the packing plant there. Clarence never made the move. He stuck around for 2 more Washington County born generations of Millers.

Clarence and Nettie lived on 60 acres between Livonia and Hardinsburg in a two room shack; one side had a dirt floor. Their refrigerator was a pit dug under the floor of the house. They carried water from a spring everyday, Clarence shot a squirrel just about everyday, and everyday meant using an outhouse, no I mean the woods. He just didn't think he needed those things - and he lived a much more primitive lifestyle than the Amish. He is the last Miller to hang on to the old ways of living and surviving on the family farm. It was a trade-off:- get a job to pay for those things like electricity and cars, or do what every Miller before him did - live without them. Some might scoff at his attitude but he was truly an American who understood what freedom was. He owed no one and never became a slave to debt. Though his son and his grandsons and his brothers had cars, electricity, and running water for years, Grampa Clarence Miller just took the simple route to living.

Since he never had a job where he paid into Social Security, he turned his farm over to Social Security when he got old. Clarence and Nettie traded the farm for a couple of Social Security Numbers and became the first generation in my bloodline to get them. Clarence probably wasn't the first of his own bloodline to get an SSN, just the first generation to get one, his son Arthur probably got one first. Clarence died in 1969 and Nettie moved to Odon in Daviess County and lived at Ketchem Memorial Center until her death in 1975.

The Hoosier Playboys had played at Ketchem Memorial about a month before Nettie's death. She told my dad that she was ready to die, she was 90 and had seen her grandson and great grandson play music. About 3 weeks later, she sat down in her rocker after lunch to read the bible and fell asleep. She died with the bible in her lap. She had always wanted to live to be 90 for some reason, but she had her dates off and was only 89. She was the only person to see 5 generations of Millers play music.

I remember Grandma Nettie asked my dad why she never heard him introduced in the band. Dad told her that people didn't call him Maurice, that they called  him Luke. Then she said "Like Matthew Luke and John - grab the saddle and I'll hop on?" And then doubled over and just slapped her lap in laughter. When Grandma Nettie laughed she really laughed, in fact seeing her laugh was funny.

Great Grandma Nettie used to go on and on about how handsome my dad was, and my dad always just laughed it off. But one day when she was telling him how handsome he was, he told her that he got his good looks from the Millers. Nettie grabbed his hand and in a very serious tone let him know, that he got his good looks, from the Marshals (her side of the family).

Click on the image for a larger view!

The Family of Clarence J and Nettie Mae Miller in 1961. Also pictured is Sarah Shewmaker-DeWeese-Ireland (Grandma Lizzie) and her second husband Bill Ireland. The adults right to left sitting are Evaline DeWeese Miller, Arthur Jason Miller, Bruce Edwin Miller and Maurice Arthur Miller. Second row Bill Ireland, Grandma Lizzie, Nettie Marshall Miller, Clarence J. Miller, Carolyn Groves Miller, Paul Franklin Miller, Norma Jean Pruett Miller. Couple in back is Clarence W. Miller and Carol Fisher Miller. On the porch is Earl Ray Miller. Not shown is Jay A. Miller.

Clarence J Miller

This is Clarence J. Miller. He is the second generation of musicians in the family.  There are only about 4 pictures of him known to exist; there was a fire that destroyed many of their things. I never met him personally and have only stories about him; I know some called him "Uncle Clarence" and he was a favorite at the bar, or should I say to the bar. I knew "Grandma Nettie" and she was a darling great grandma.

Both Clarence and Nettie laughed a lot. I know Nettie always had something funny coming out of her mouth; and it wasn't her teeth either - cause she didn't have any. Both of them were born in 1886. Nettie was just a little bit older than Clarence, I'm sure that brought them a lot of laughs.

My Great Grandma Nettie was the most grateful person I have ever known. She had nothing and expected nothing from anybody; that made her grateful for even the smallest things. I think she discovered the secret to happiness "Appreciation".

I named my daughter after Nettie, and oddly, she noticed they were both born in '86 - one hundred years apart. My uncle "Tyke Miller" is named after Clarence and they are the only living namesakes of the two.

Clarence and Nettie's son Arthur married Evaline and had their only grandchildren.

Nettie and Clarence Miller's grave stones at  the Hardinsburg Indiana Cemetery. Their son Edgar's grave is next to theirs. Click the image for a larger view.

Click on the image for a larger view!

Grampa Arthur Miller feeding the chickens in Illinois. They moved from Washington County to Coles County Illinois, then moved to Daviess County Indiana.

Arthur Jason Miller

This is Arthur Jason Miller and his wife Mahala Evaline Miller, but call her Mahala and you'd learn that she was Evaline D. Miller pretty quick she didn't like the name Mahala. She is the daughter of Sarah Elizabeth Shewmaker of Harrison County IN and William Elwin DeWeese of Washington County IN. To me this is Gramma and Grampa Miller. They met at a square dance he was playing at when Gramma spotted him. Grandma told that Grampa was a keeper, but those socks of his had to go! Apparently the elastic was all stretched out. He looks like he'd wear socks like that...Doesn't he?

Arthur had four years of schooling, but a sixth grade education. He was double promoted from 2nd to 4th grade and from 4th to 6th grade. I have found several Miller's with genius level IQs of 130 and above and I suspect Grampa was just another one of those eccentric genius types. (He definitely marched to the beat of his own drummer.) Though mostly uneducated, Grampa was a mathematics whiz and could figure out how to do anything. He played guitar, mandolin, and fiddle, but his whistling was the best I had ever heard - he was really really good. Up to this point the Miller's had only played the old time music, my dad Luke Miller was the first to play country music. My dad and I are both named after Arthur Jason Miller.

Arthur and Evaline had 6 sons born in a 7 year period. Maurice and Bruce were born in Fredericksburg Indiana. Then Arthur and Evaline moved the family from Washington County to Mattoon Illinois in 1935/1936 where their sons Jay and Clarence were born. They moved back to Indiana around 1939 and settled in Daviess County near Burns City Indiana. There their sons Paul and Earl were born. Arthur originally purchased about 10 acres there from Floyd Burris, who allowed him to pay it off by playing the fiddle for him.

Evaline died in July 1972 at Whitehall in Owen county, one month after the opening of Ye Opera House. Arthur died in March 1988 at the Ketchem Memorial Center in Odon, two months before Ye Opera House closed. Grandma went to every show and Grampa never entered to the building unless it was closed. The time that they were separated in this world, was the time period of Ye Opera House's life. Weird?

Luke Miller's "The Travelers" band where he mainly played fiddle.

Click on the image for a larger view!

Maurice "Luke" Miller

In 1956 Maurice and Arthur played music together when they played for Paul Miller's wedding reception. (Paul is Evaline and Arthur's 5th son, and he also plays music and so does his son Jeff). Evaline submitted the shower to the Odon Journal like this:

A miscellaneous shower was given for newly weds Mr. and Mrs. Paul Miller on July 26 at the Odon City Park by Mrs. Rella Sims and Mrs. Evaline Miller. Entertainment and music was provided by Eric Burton, Jim Housel, Maurice Miller, Arthur Miller, and Albert Sims Jr. 

For some reason, when he was a kid, Grampa wouldn't let dad touch his musical instruments. Dad never learned to play anything until he was 21 years old. Around 1953, Dad moved to Summit Street in Bloomington Indiana and living nearby was Eric Burton. Eric was a band mate of dad's for several years, he and his wife Joyce lived in the big house by Mike Shakes Garage in Raglesville. Yep, Dad and Eric both married Raglesville girls and it was during this time dad took up the fiddle.

This is Norma Jean Pruett and Maurice Arthur Miller, or Luke Miller. My mom was born in Raglesville in Daviess County and dad was born in Fredericksburg in Washington County. They ran Ye Opera House (a country music stage show) in Loogootee in Martin County for over 10 years.

Luke was in several bands during the 1950's and 60's when he lived in Bloomington Indiana; he was the band leader for the "Note-Smiths" and "The Travelers" for several years.

He competed in many fiddler's contests and placed at all levels; I have trophies from him placing 3rd place in the Martin County Fair Fiddler's Contest in 1982 and Champion Fiddler at the Odon Days contest in 1985. But the contest that meant the most to my dad was one where he came in 2nd. Grampa had scoffed at dad learning to play, but he showed up at this fiddlers contest, completely unexpected by my dad. Grampa was really proud of dad, he gave him his own fiddle - the one he played for years. That was better than first prize as far as my dad was concerned.

Dad got the nick name "Luke" from a high school incident involving a girl named Lukens; so needless to say, mom always called him Maurice. He and Norma Jean were members of the Hoosier Playboys for 16 years.

The Hoosier Playboys was formed by Jarvis Crays around the fiddling talent of Herman Grigsby of French Lick in Orange County Indiana. The Hoosier Playboys was the house band at Ye Opera House. Luke played bass, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, steel guitar, and saxophone publicly. He started with the Hoosier playboys on the doghouse bass and eventually went to lead guitar. In the beginning, Jarvis was really interested in my mom's old time country singing style when he hired the two of them, but they needed a bass player and my dad was willing and able to learn. He had one month to learn and he had never played one......GO Dad!!!

This last picture was taken from the stage at Ye Opera House in about 1976. For a while the shows were broadcast live over a radio station in Paoli, but that was prior to when this picture being taken. This is a not used proof photo from a two page spread that ran in the Sunday paper - I believe it was Paoli. I remember that they wanted me to pretend to sleep between shows and then they took a picture. When it came out in the paper, the perspective of the shot made my feet look bigger than my whole body. But hey...  It sold a lot of tickets!!

Pappy Miller - voted "most likely to be accused" by his high school class.

Shop for Pappy Miller Goofball Items!!

In this picture the Hoosier Playboys dressed as women for Halloween. I got up and sang "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man". That lady in the ticket booth is my maternal grandma, Halcie Chestnut Pruett - she was proud of me...

Click on the image for a larger view!

Me Now

More About Me

James A "Pappy" Miller

This is me and I really am a nut job hillbilly. I started playing music with my mom and dad when I was 9 years old. My "debut" was at the Raglesville Ice Cream Social at the Evans Memorial Park in 1972, a few months after my Grandma Evaline Miller died, so she never saw me play. I am the 5th generation Miller to take up the music hobby/biz.

At 11 years old, former Indiana State Trooper Jarvis Crays, hired me to play drums for the Hoosier Playboys - I got $2 a night back then and I can almost earn double that now (my last job I got $3.87 and I didn't have to sweep up). You may remember me as that kid who was just entirely too loud on the drums! Ye Opera House was sold to my parents a few years after I joined the band and I remained a member of the Hoosier Playboys until I was 25 years old and Ye Opera House closed.

I'm an old Grampa now myself - Some folks know me as Pappy Miller - Idiot Extraordinaire. If I didn't get any of the musical talent, maybe I got that Miller sense of humor..... I play guitar, bass, drums, dulcimer, mandolin, and dobro. I have a home recording studio and have recorded several of the hundreds of songs I have written.

 You can download and listen to "Dog Is Man's Best Friend" recorded with my dog Doofus Dog Miller, and my dad Luke Miller, on fiddle, by clicking this link. It was written in 1986 and registered with the Library of Congress in 1989. This particular recording was made in 1998; both Doofus and dad have since passed away. I'm playing every instrument but the fiddle on this song.

My most requested song has been "The Greatest Man". Written in 1989 by request of a drummer who had been playing music with me, whose father had just died of a massive heart attack. He was 18 years old when his dad died and decided to quit playing and get serious about his life. My dad had just had a heart attack the year before and the words and music just fell out onto the paper when I sat down to do it. I was playing with a band called "The Wrexx" when my dad surprised me by showing up at a show we put on at Granny's Country Kitchen in Nashville Indiana. I hadn't planned on him hearing the song yet but he did. Mom said he cried for a couple of weeks over it and I know how he felt - it is so emotional for me I can hardly sing it. The guy I wrote the song for - I never saw again. He has never heard the song that has given me many standing ovations and brought so many people to tears. Oh yeah... I'm singing every part and playing every instrument on "The Greatest Man".

I am a product of Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in St. Louis MO. Without them I wouldn't be here today; scoliosis would have killed me during my teens without treatment. Yeah scoliosis can kill you - if you have it as a birth defect! It can compress the heart and lungs until they can't function. The twisting would have caused my rib cage to collapse on my heart and lungs without the operation I had at 5 years old; and then well....

Click on the image for a larger view!

The Hoosier Playboys

This is the Hoosier Playboys at the Odon Old Settlers carnival in about 1975, I was about 12 years old. It was our first promotional picture with me in the band.

Front row right to left: James Arthur Miller (That's me!), (William) Jarvis Crays of Loogootee.  Back row Jim Hunt Sr of Washington in Daviess County, Bill Strange of Burns City in Martin County, Luke and Norma Jean Miller, Raglesville in Daviess County, and Herman Grigsby of French Lick / West Baden in Orange County. All of the members are deceased except for my mom, Norma Jean Walls, and me.

This photo was taken at the same time, by Sims of Odon. This is the old Odon Park bandstand in the 1970's, but it was old even then. It was torn down and big shows will never be possible there again. The Odon Old Settlers was a treat for every band that ever played there, primarily because of the huge stage and great sound. The new bandstand structure was built without consideration to acoustics, performer access, or the crowds viewpoint. People like Grampa Jones (whose wife Ramona is from Raglesville) would never book a job on the new stage as it is only about two feet tall, inaccessible for loading and positioned to amplify background noise from the carnival.

Left to Right: Jim Hunt, Rhythm Guitar; Unknown person, Herman Grigsby, Fiddle; Jarvis Crays, Banjo; Luke Miller, Lead Guitar; Bill Strange, Lead Male Vocalist; Norma Jean Miller, Lead Female Vocalist; "Little Jimmy Miller", drums.

Click on the image for a larger view!

This picture is of the Hoosier Playboys in 1973 on stage at Ye Opera House. right to left is Herman Grigsby, Jim Hunt Sr., Jarvis Crays, Bill Strange, Dick West (Tincher), and Luke Miller. I wasn't a member of the band yet and mom "Norma Jean" was called on stage just to sing her songs. Dick West was from Freelandville in Knox County Indiana; he and I was in the band together for about 1 1/2 years.

The show bill below is from 1977 and was put together by Jarvis Crays. This was about a year before the Millers bought the business.

Click on the image for a larger view!

This was a folded four page flyer so the first picture is front and back and the second picture is the inside.

As you can read, Ye Opera House was put together for the Hoosier Playboys to have a place to play. Since the band was formed around Herman's fiddling ability, Ye Opera House was really always about the fiddle tune and hoe down country music - not to be confused with bluegrass! The fiddle tune is a part of what's called "Traditional Music" whereas Bluegrass is a creation of Bill Monroe.

I have yet to see a bluegrass band play with the energy that Herman could wail out a fiddle tune. He'd be so pumped up after a song he couldn't stand still - just jumping all over the stage - Herman was a real talent. Before the wailing electric guitar of today, the young guys wanted to make a fiddle scream, cry, and sing. That was before we had guitar bands when the fiddle was still the instrument boys wished they could play, and every community had fiddlin' contests where showing off your version of your favorite rag was as common as demolition derbies.

Just listen to this MP3 file of The Hoosier Playboys playing their theme song. Every Saturday night the show started with "Liberty", then ended with Elmer Groomer sounding the cowbell, and Jarvis Crays welcoming the crowd. The Hoosier Playboys ended their portion of the show the same way except Jarvis would say "Until you and the Hoosier Playboys meet again, may the good Lord keep an eye on ya!". I think that was Jarvis's way of saying "Behave"!

The Ritz Theater in Loogootee in Martin County in 1972 before it was converted to Ye Opera House.

Click on the images for a larger view!

Ye Opera House in 1972. Including the balcony the building could seat 557 people. The new look was created by Jarvis Crays, Bill Strange, and Jesse Ellis and their wives Mary, Mary, and Aleva, respectively.

Bill and Mary Strange met at the Ye Opera House when it was a movie theater, (I met the mother of my children there too as have many others). Bill is also responsible for the "Ye" in Ye Opera House. The building was built before the movie was invented and it was originally called "The Opera House". They had plays and singers performed; it was a vaudeville style show sometimes.

Gene Autry was the first famous person to grace the stage. He was in Loogootee to promote his new "talkie" movies back when the building was being used for silent films.

Ye Opera House

Loogootee Indiana 1972-1988

Click on the image for a larger, clearer view!

This is a show bill, front and back,  from Ye Opera House in Loogootee Indiana. There couldn't have been a better place to play music in southern Indiana, especially if you was a kid.

Bands would perform here for 25 to 30 % of what they could get in the bars and clubs, and they kept coming back. There is nothing like performing to a group of people who are focused in on your every move; you can't get that in a bar, or a restaurant, or a festival. At Ye Opera House, many seasoned musicians and singers experienced stage fright. Performing for a captive audience meant these people had nothing to do but look at you - straight at you! Nobody could turn their chair around; Ye Opera House was created in the old Ritz Theater and the seats were bolted to the floor!

Download the Hoosier Playboys

video or MP3

of "Liberty" their theme song.

Hundreds of young people have played the stage at Ye Opera, it was a great place to meet and learn from other musicians. It was an education in music and performance you just couldn't get anywhere else. That's why so many people would travel 2 or 3 hours for $15 dollars, it wasn't the money - it was the experience.

This show bill has the Stewart Family listed, but I can still remember when it was 8 - 9 year old Fiddlin' Ronnie Stewart sitting in with the Hoosier Playboys. Ron was an immediate crowd pleaser - he could already play better than most adult fiddlers and he was just getting his career started. Now Ron Stewart is cruising around with Bluegrass legend, J.D. Crowe. Check out Ron now  in the band "New South" - he is one of bluegrass's most respected musicians today and on his way to becoming a bluegrass legend on his own.

The Villagers was a family group that later became the Midwest Cowboys. I think they changed their name due to getting so many requests for the song YMCA. (That's a joke.) They called my dad Uncle Lukey.

Jarvis Crays and Luke Miller on stage; Luke demonstrates the nose that made him famous.

Old Joe Clark is from Renfro Valley Kentucky, he was a good friend to Ye Opera performing there for many years, starting at the grand opening. The Hoosier Playboys always backed him up on stage. Arthur and Evaline Miller used to go to Renfro Valley to see Old Joe Clark, but neither of them got to see dad and I perform with him. Ye Opera opened in June of 1972 and Evaline went to every show until she died in July the following month. Oddly, Arthur died two months before Ye Opera House closed. Arthur had stopped playing music outside of his living room by 1972 and never performed at Ye Opera.

Tommy Moore was from Illinois, Carl Woods was the black saxophone player that came up from Owensboro Kentucky many, many times packing the house. The Commodore's were from Lexington Kentucky and the Celestial Sounds were from Henderson Kentucky. These Commodore's aren't the famous Commodores; this group featured drummer Randy Burchfield.

Some of these performers are still at it on WRAY radio in Princeton Indiana. Catch some of old time country every Saturday morning from 8am to noon. Check out their Roots of Country performer schedule and pictures.

The other performers from this show bill alone come from these Indiana Counties: Monroe, Daviess, Orange, Brown, Sullivan, Dubois, Greene, Jackson, Decatur, Bartholomew, Lawrence, Owen, Johnson, Martin, Morgan, and others I don't know. Ye Opera House was a statewide attraction and the audience members were from all over Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. It even had people in the audience who were visiting from other countries - now they got a good taste of southern Indiana's country music culture!

And this is how the Millers became known across Southern Indiana for their involvement with country music.

Hoosier Musicians Spanning

"1851 to Present"

Over 150 Years of

Hoosier Country Music Culture!

 

Pappy Miller Postage - Cups - Women's Tops *For Sale*
	Pappy Miller Underwear
Guaranteed to have not been worn by Pappy!!