Music is important in the Dynamic Duo of the Ozarks. While I write, I listen to the music of that era. Even though I work in radio, I doubt I will ever meet many of these artist, in the playlist in my Ipod and Itunes, while I’m writing. I know that I defiantly will never get to meet Dean Martin, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon and George Harrison, Leslie Gore, and many others. However, there is one major artist of that era, that I had the pleasure to meet before he passed away. That was Roger Miller.
Roger Miller was considered a country music singer, but he was a crossover star, hitting the pop chart with several hits between 1964 – 1966. Part of his success came from mixing country music with a bit of a jazz influence (especially scat singing) and a off-the-wall humor not heard in country music at that time.
When I was an intern with KOLR-TV in Springfield, Missouri, Roger Miller performed at the Ozark Empire Fair. I accompanied the anchor, Steve Loracco, and a camera woman named Liz (can’t remember her last name), to Roger’s trailer, to interview him after his show.
Before we went in, Steve turned to me and asked, “What can I ask him? I know his big hit was “King of the Road,” but I can’t think of any of his other hits?”
I said, “Ask him if “Chug-A-Lug” was based something that actually happened to him.”
We went in. Roger was not only nice, but he was a funny guy off stage too. The big story in the news that summer was the arrest of Pee Wee Herman in an adult movie theater. Roger made jokes about that incident. His jokes were good too. Not derogatory or insulting of Pee Wee, but good double entrees. “Poor Pee Wee. He just let his career slip through his finger tips. But you also got to feel bad for the cops that arrested him, because I’m sure that was a sticky situation.”
The camera went on a Steve began the interview. He eventually asked Roger the question I had suggested. “You know, I forgot to sing that one tonight. That is the only song I ever wrote that was about something that happened to me.” He then showed us with his hands the size of the jar. “I can still see that stuff in that jar. The jar was about this big and that stuff was a dark purple…kind of looked like motor oil. I can’t believe I drank that stuff, but you do a lot of stupid stuff when you are a kid.”
Sadly, Roger didn’t live very long after that interview. He did the next year of cancer.
So, when “King of the Road,” “Chug-A-Lug,” “Dang Me,” “Kansas City Star,” “You Can’t Roller Skate In a Buffalo Herd,” or even Roger’s “serious” hit “”Husbands & Wives” come up in my Ipod, I remember meeting Roger in person.
WIP: DYNAMIC DUO OF THE OZARKS 