Photo Credit: Nicole Young
Country’s next biggest star Alex Miller has grabbed the attention of many since his appearance on season 19 of American Idol in 2021. The twenty-year-old singer/songwriter from Lancaster, Kentucky did not win the competition, but soon after would begin living his wildest dreams. Miller did not make it into the top 24 of the show, but was signed by Nashville based record label Billy Jam Records following his exit. Under his new label, Miller would release his beloved debut album, “Miller Time”. Stardom was just beginning for Miller in 2022. Miller would perform at multiple state fairs across the nation and would open for country fan favorites such as “Sawyer Brown” and “Diamond Rio”.
Despite a heavy touring schedule, Miller is persistently working to better himself and his music. In October of 2023, Miller would release his latest EP “Country”. “Country” includes hit songs such as “When God Made The South” and “Girl, I Know A Guy”. Miller began gaining an audience in Europe when he partnered with Europe’s #1 country music radio station “CMR Nashville”. Miller hosted the hour long, monthly radio show called “MILLER TIME”. This gave him the opportunity to connect with fans overseas by playing songs written by himself or others. This is only the beginning for Miller. Miller has performed since he was seven-years-old and now is playing massive venues such as Lucas Oil Stadium and the Dolby Theatre. Miller will continue to steal the hearts of country fans for years to come.
Tune in below to our conversation with all time country star Alex Miller about the upcoming releases and his backstory as a musician.
Emily: Hello! My name is Emily and I am one of the co-founders here at The Concert Chronicles and I will be the one interviewing you today. Are you ready to begin?
Alex: I'm ready as I'll ever be Emily, thank you.
Emily: Before we get into this, I would like for you to share a fun fact about yourself, so fans get to know you a little bit more, to those who are not really familiar with you; if you can start us off with that.
Alex: Sure. I would say a good fun fact about me is that I was an FFA member whenever I was in high school and I just got my American degree last year, so for all you FFA members and people that know anything about that organization, that's a big deal and that's kind of my thing, it would be my introduction, I'm a farm boy through and through.
Emily: That's awesome. That's good to hear. Alright, so let's get started. Have you been currently working on anything new with your music? And if so, tell us about it.
Alex: Yes ma 'am. I have. I've got a brand new record coming April the 12th and it's a five song EP. So I've been working on that. It's called My Daddy's Dad and it's a kind of a tribute to my granddad. He passed away a couple years ago now and so I wanted to do something and remember it to him and I thought, you know, as much as he loved music. and loved me, I figured I’d put them both together and that'd be about the best tribute I could do.
Emily: I'm sorry to hear about your passing, but that's really awesome that you're tributing that. I love when artists do that. It just shows so much dedication and so much emotion, especially with the lyrics and instrumentals. I love it.
Alex: It's definitely the most emotional song I put out. And I'm excited for it to be out in the world.
Emily: That's exciting to hear. Do you have any plans to do any collaborations? If not, like who's your dream artist you would want to collaborate?
Alex: So I do have some things in the works. I've wrote with a girl named Emily Ann Roberts. I don't know if you've heard of her or not but she's a kind of an up -and -comer like me in the country field and so I've wrote a few things with her and I think that we're probably going to record something and as well as record with a legend in country music. We're working on a thing with Tracy Bird so hopefully those two things will work out.
Emily: I know you have an upcoming show in Paris Illinois and I know you recently launched a platinum fan club package that offers meet and greets so how do you plan to connect with your fans across the globe during these upcoming dates with that?
Alex: Well you know I get a lot of questions and is Paris kind of a bigger town or a smaller town, what would you say, Emily?
Emily: I'm not really sure. I'm from New York, so I don't know much about the area too much (laughing)
Alex: You know, I always like playing smaller towns, being from a smaller town. You know, I think that that small town atmosphere is something that not everybody grew up around, you know? And I think it's a thing that everybody needs to be exposed to as well. So by doing shows in Paris, Illinois, and Toronto, Indiana, and Lancaster, Kentucky, where I'm from, you know, I like doing those kind of things because it was always a big deal when somebody came to play in our hometown, like we had men's skill come play in my hometown one time. So I remember how big of a deal that was. And so whenever an artist comes to, you know, Paris, Illinois, or wherever, I think that's a, it's a big deal. And cultured musicians get to do it way more than a lot of other people do. do and go into smaller communities and play. And so I'm excited. I think what that allows me to connect with other people in a way that, you know, 'cause they don't get to see music as much maybe in that town than as they would in other places.
Emily: I'm so excited for you. That's really cool. Do you have any like other bigger tours that you have planned for the future? Like other places across the states?
Alex: I'll be going back to Illinois. Illinois here in July and doing a show with Neil McCoy who's a big country artist and then there's some other things as well I'll be at the Kentucky State Fair in the Washington State Fair and doing a lot of traveling all over so I keep my my tires on my cars and my bus is pretty pretty heavy (laughing)
Emily: Lots of traveling on your plate I see (laughs)
Alex: Yes ma'am yes. I love it too.
Emily: We only have a few more questions for you this afternoon So I know that you've been on American Idol correct? Would you mind sharing us your experience and what you have learned as a musician and talk about your experience with that?
Alex: Absolutely. You know my experience with American Idol it's been a long time ago. Now I was I was 17 at the time and my mom signed me up for it. I probably wouldn't have ever done it myself but I'm so glad she did. It's led me to places like Paris, Illinois and Washington State and all this other stuff. The experience with Idle was just an eye-opener for me. It showed me what could be and what can be. I never thought in a million years that I would be on a show like that, let alone do as well as I did. So... So having that experience and being able to go out and make a career now is something that I would only dreamt of before. So I would say for any young artist out there, do it. 'Cause you never know. I never thought it happened to me and it can definitely happen to anybody. So I just gotta say thank you to American Idol and thank you to everybody that has a fan of me from being on that show.
Emily: It must be very nerve wracking being in front of all those judges and having everyone listen to you at such a young age. I've seen a lot of artist's gain success after appearing on the show so helping yourself branch out that way is absolutely phenomenal.
Alex: You know what, them judges, the way I looked at it, I was more concerned with the general people than I was them judges. The judges are great, I liked all three of them, but the people out there are what I really care about. Them judges are just kind of the front line to the people.
Emily: I'm glad that everything worked out for you with that and you're here where you are now that's really amazing, and I'm so happy for you and your accomplishes and can't wait to hear what you have coming up for us and for your fans for everyone It must be an incredible journey.
Alex: I mean it as a journey life is a journey within itself, you know, so So I've just been very blessed with a really good one. So thank you everybody out there for making that happen.
Emily: So we did a little questionnaire with our fans in our magazine and they have some fan -picked questions for you if you mind answering them. The first one is what is your favorite karaoke song to perform?
Alex: You know, that's interesting. I'll tell you my favorite karaoke song, 'cause I actually, whenever I was a little kid, you know, I didn't play guitar there for a long time 'til I was like six. And so, I used to do "Long Black Train" by Josh Turner Karaoke, and I can still get down on that one.
Emily: I've never heard of that song before, but I'll definitely check it out.
Alex: You'll like it. (laughing)
Emily: So, next questions are, what is your favorite song? favorite venue to play at and why?
Alex: You know the place it's my favorite place I haven't ever got to play it I would love to play at the Grand Ole Opry as any country artist that's like the pinnacle so that's the place I want to go and play the most is at the Grand Ole Opry it's the the Mother Church of Country Music it's where it's all started and it would be nice to have a little Alex Miller sprinkled in there too.
Emily: All right, and the last one is, what is the funniest fan sign that you've been, that you saw being held up during one of your shows?
Alex: Hmm, fan sign? Okay, the coolest fan thing I've ever received, I have had a lot of signs, but this one was just really special. This lady made a stained glass window of me and her. And so she gave this stained glass window to me and I've still got it there in my office. I just thought, well, what a cool thing to do for somebody. And I've held on to it all this time. And I always thought that was really sweet. And I love it when fans send me stuff. I have people send me stuff all the time. So that was probably the sweetest and the coolest thing I ever got. A stained glass window of myself. I mean, you can't get no cooler than that.
Emily: I've never seen any fan do that at any show that I've been to, that's absolutely crazy and very unique. Was it very exact to how you look, did they get the proportions correct?
Alex: You know, my eyes were a little big, I looked a little surprised, but you know, I mean, it was, I couldn't have done no better, I'll put it that way.
Emily: I love how creative the fan base can be. That was very sweet.
Alex: I've got some of the best fans in the world, and I say that a lot, and I really mean it. The people that like me are just the greatest people on the planet.
Emily: All right, and now to end things off, do you have anything you would like to say to your fans?
Alex: I would say to my fans out there, I mean, it's a very cliche thing, I would like to say to my fans out there, I would like to say to my fans out there, thank you and you know I don't think people hear that enough these days It seems like etiquette and politeness is something that's kind of going away, but I'll keep y 'all keep it alive I just want to say thank you all so much .I always say this without you I couldn't be sitting here doing this interview or singing or picking or anything So thank you to fans for keeping me going and keeping my confidence up, you know all them comments you give me and stuff That's the best confident boost in the world so thank you all so much for just being Alex Miller fans.
Emily: That completes all the questions thank you so much Alex for joining us on this interview and it was a pleasure getting to meet and sit down and talk with you.
Alex: You as well darling, I can say the same to you and if you ever need me for one of these again just give me a holler of course we'll definitely stay in touch.
Emily: Best of luck on your future shows and congratulations on the upcoming album release you have planned. We cannot wait to hear what you have planned in your music career and write a review about it.
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