Steve Miller to release two albums after 17-year break

F1nut

I'm looking forward to these.

DETROIT (Billboard) Steve Miller hasn't released a new studio album
in 17 years, but he plans to make up for lost time with a pair of
blues and R&B cover sets that will come out this year and next.


"Bingo!," Miller's first Steve Miller Band release on his own Space
Cowboy Records label, comes out June 15 and features songs by the
likes of B.B. King ("Rock Me Baby") and Lowell Fulson ("Tramp"), Jimmy
Reed ("You Got Me Dizzy") as well as three Jimmie Vaughan
compositions. Miller plans to put a companion album out in the spring
of 2011.


"This is a party record, man," Miller tells Billboard.com. "It's about
getting up and getting ready to dance. It's like the fraternity party
gigs I used to play in college. I went through and picked all my
favorite tunes that I really, really loved. I wanted to make this
record forever; it started off as just kind of a goof, and then it got
real serious."


The sessions for "Bingo!" and its successor started in 2008 with
co-producer Andy Johns at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in northern
California. The two were working on Miller's last concert DVD, "Live
From Chicago," and he recalls that "Andy said, 'Boy, I would really
love to do a guitar album with you,' and I said, 'Y'know, I'm getting
ready to do one.' The next thing you know...we go into Skywalker and
cut 42 tracks."


Besides his regular band, including the late harmonica player Norton
Buffalo, Miller -- who's been playing many of these songs on the road
during the past few years -- was also joined by Joe Satriani on "Rock
Me Baby" and Vaughan's "Sweet Soul Vibe," as well as by Santana
percussionists Michael Carabello and Jose Areas.


Among the songs slated for the next album are Reed's "Close Together,"
Junior Wells' "Snatch It Back and Hold It," Roscoe Gordon's "No More
Doggin'," Muddy Waters' "I Can't Be Satisfied," Robert Johnson's
"Sweet Home Chicago" and Jimmy McCracklin's "The Walk."


"It's a great group of songs, and it gives us a lot of new material to
play," Miller notes. "I'm excited about releasing some new music for
the audience and for my band and for me to play. This material we're
just releasing now we've been working on stage for the last couple of
years and it's been going over really, really well and it's just
worked out that now seemed like a good time to release a record."


Miller and company will be on the road in North America starting May
21 in Henderson, Nevada, with a new stage set by Broadway designer Rob
Roth. He also plans to play Europe during the fall. Meanwhile, Miller
says he has "10 or 11 pieces of music" for original songs that he has
yet to write lyrics for, and he's also working with some youth
musicians from San Francisco and Texas.

comfortablycurt

Very cool news!! I'll be looking forward to these ones.

I just had some Steve Miller on vinyl spinning on the 2 channel rig a few days ago.

Knucklehead

I remember seeing him in concert in 81'....very good musician.

Toolfan66

I love Steve Miller, but I have to say the song "Abracadabra" is horrible, and the video is even worse.

adam2434

Cool - sounds like he's going back to his Blues roots for these albums.

bobman1235

In general I enjoy Steve Miller's music, but the guy has to be one of the worst lyricists in the history of teh Earth. Most of his songs are like children's rhyming schemes from a first grade textbook or something.

packetjones

I look forward to picking this one up. I really enjoy Steve Miller's music overall.

erniejade

Sweet was listening to make the world turn around the other day actually lol.

ryanjoachim

I love his music, and have since I was a kid and listened to it with my Dad. My dad also took me to my very first concert in 2004, and guess who was playing?!

Steve Miller Band, that's who.