Fingerpicking Rags & Other Delights

Album Review

Delightful and entertaining, fluid steel-string picking that starts with a peppy version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" and wends its way through very old pop standards, Bach and original pieces before arriving at a winsome (and trim) take of "Hey Jude." Miller came late to the guitar, but made up for lost time by performing with an evident joy that permeates these recordings — there's no suggestion of intellectualism anywhere on this record, just a pure pleasure that breathes new life into crunchy old numbers such as "Bicycle Built for Two." The record sold out in 1977, to everyone's surprise, but was never re-pressed or reissued until 1996.