It certainly wouldn’t be accurate to say that Buddy and Julie Miller have bad luck. After all, each of them has had wonderful career as songwriter and performer. They’ve each had fine solo albums. A variety of country artists have had success with their songs, including Lee Ann Womack and Dierks Bentley.

Buddy has played guitar on tour with Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, and more recently Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and he’s produced albums in the studio he built in their Nashville home for Allison Moorer, Solomon Burke, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Together, Buddy and Julie have played inspirational shows all over the country.

But back to that luck thing. Written In Chalk (New West Records) is only the couple’s second album together. The first, Buddy and Julie Miller, was released exactly one week after September 11, 2001. Then, just days before this new album was released, Buddy was admitted to a hospital in Baltimore complaining of chest pains. He needed immediate bypass surgery, and though he’s coming along fine now, he is temporarily unable to go on the road to support the new album. Buddy and Julie are people of faith, and it’s their faith that has sustained them through setbacks and success.

This was supposed to be Julie’s next solo album, her first since 1999’s Broken Things. Most of the new record was finished, when her brother died tragically, causing the recording process to come to a halt. They tried to get back to it, but it wasn’t working. Meanwhile Buddy was working on his own Grammy-nominated Universal House of Prayer, and producing other artists. Finally, the circumstances were right for Written In Chalk to come together. At least two of the songs on the new album are songs that were originally intended for Julie’s solo album, songs that I heard her perform as long as five years ago.

As you might expect, Written In Chalk reflects the sorrow that the Millers have had to cope with in recent years. Julie in particular has a knack for crafting the most heartbreakingly beautiful songs that contain not one ounce of self pity. That’s great songwriting, and it’s especially evident on the magnificent “Don’t Say Goodbye,” a tribute to her late brother that features harmony vocals by Patty Griffin. Julie is also featured on a lovely tribute to June Carter Cash called, simply, “June.” (more…)