Lisa Anne Miller is an Australian country pop singer-songwriter and guitarist. She has issued seven albums, Quiet Girl with a Credit Card (1996), As Far as a Life Goes (1999), Car Tape (2002), Version Originale (2003), Morning in the Bowl of Night (2007), Car Tape 2 (2010) and Meet the Misses (2012). She has a clear, bitter-sweet voice and provides poignant semi-biographical lyrics. At the ARIA Music Awards she has been nominated nine times.
Biography
Lisa Miller is the daughter of social realist painter, Peter Miller, and grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Chadstone with her elder brother Lewis Miller (born 1959), who is also a painter, and a younger brother Paul Miller. Lewis won the 1998 Archibald Prize. Miller started writing songs at fourteen and has memories of being in a folk music duo with a friend, Tracey<!-- maiden name not seen in source -->, "I played flute, she played guitar and sang, and we wore matching paisley dresses that went to the floor, and played at coffee houses where people drank hot chocolates with marshmallows." Tracey later married Miller's brother Paul to become Tracey Miller, and, as from 2005, was also a country music singer-songwriter. which appeared on a various artists' compilation album, The Preston Story, Vol. 1, in 1995 via Canetoad Records. Miller and Ferrie renamed the group as Truckasaurus in 1993 with additional members, Ed Bates on guitar and Graham Lee on pedal steel guitar. The second EP had five tracks and was co-produced with Shane O'Mara and recorded at O'Mara's home studio, Yikesville, "[with] an ADAT recorder and a couple of cheap delay units in the spare bedroom, rather than the sophisticated backyard operation it is today. Lisa is adamant that she came up with the name 'Yikesville' during this session, but Shane doesn't believe her". O'Mara mixed it, "one night when the ARIA awards were on (the year Silverchair and Tim Rogers did 'New Race'). Lisa and Rebecca spent the evening glued to the telly, while Shane and Ben [Lempriere] got progressively drunker over the 8-track Mackie desk." He felt that, "The long gestation period for this album has been a blessing – songs that began life in one guise have, by osmosis, developed new cloaks... country and western... is a far cry from Ms Miller's eclectic mix of country, funk, folk and pop." It found her in a country-soul vein and was a critical success. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt it was, "a delightful and idiosyncratic collection of songs." According to Miller it was named for, "grimy cassettes which get stuck, and you have to stick a pen into the reel to wind them up. And they're funny songs that someone puts on a tape because they're special to them, and they're often a bit odd."
Car Tape was produced, recorded and mixed by O'Mara at his studio, at various times during 2000 and 2001. She received three more ARIA Music Award nominations in 2002: for Best Female Artist, Best Independent Release and Best Adult Contemporary Album for Car Tape.
- Label: W. Minc Productions <small>(W.MINCD009)</small>
- Format: CD
|-
! scope="row" | Car Tape
|
- Released: May 2002
- Label: Raoul Records <small>(WIFECD001)</small>
- Format: CD
|-
! scope="row" | Version Originale
|
- Released: October 2003
- Label: Raoul Records <small>(WIFECD003)</small>
- Format: CD
|-
! scope="row" | Morning in the Bowl of Night
|
- Released: May 2007
- Label: Raoul Records <small>(WIFECD007)</small>
- Format: CD, digital
|-
! scope="row" | Car Tape 2
|
- Released: May 2010
- Label: Raoul Records <small>(WIFECD008)</small>
- Format: CD, digital
|-
! scope="row" | Meet the Misses
|
- Released: 2012
- Label: Raoul Records <small>(WIFECD009)</small>
- Format: CD, digital
|}
Extended Plays
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|+ List of EPs, with selected details
! Title
! Details
|-
! scope="row" | Do That for You
|
- Released: 1995
- Label: In-Law Records <small>(Mother02)</small>
- Format: CD
|-
! scope="row" | All Worked Out
|
- Released: 1995
- Label: In-Law Records <small>(Mother03)</small>
- Format: CD
|-
! scope="row" | Pushover
|
- Released: 2004
- Label: Raoul Records <small>(WIFECD004)</small>
- Format: CD
|-
! scope="row" | The Dusty Millers <br> (with Loretta Miller and Tracey Miller)
|
- Released: March 2017
- Label: The Dusty Millers
- Format: 300 copies CD
|}
Other appearances
;The Whole Shebang
- The Preston Story, Vol. 1 – "Funnel of Love", "Another Sunday Morning" – recorded 1987, released 1995 Canetoad Records <small>(CD-006)</small>
;solo
- Recovery: Hits from the Back Door – "Hang Your Head" (live) (1997)
- RRRewind in the Chapel – "Are You the One that I've Been Waiting For" (live), "It's a Long Way to the Top" (live) – 1998
- Highlights from the ABC TV Series Studio 22 – "Trade" (live) (2002)
- You Can't Hide Your Love Forever – A Tribute to Gene Clark – "Why Not Your Baby" (live) – 2002
- The DIG Australian Blues Project – "Red Cross Store Blues" (live) – 2005
- She Will Have Her Way – "I Hope I Never" – 2005
;duet with Tex Perkins
- To Hal and Bacharach – "The Look of Love" – 1998
Film soundtracks
- Mullet <small>(by Various Artists)</small> (2000)
- Dirty Deeds <small>(by Various Artists)</small> (2002)
- Look Both Ways <small>(Various Artists)</small> – "Eleven" (2005)
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.
|-
| 1999
| As Far as a Life Goes
| Best Female Artist
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2002
| rowspan="3"| Car Tape
| Best Female Artist
|
|-
| Best Independent Release
|
|-
| Best Adult Contemporary Album
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2004
| rowspan="2"| Version Originale
| Best Female Artist
|
|-
| Best Adult Contemporary Album
|
|-
| 2007
| Morning in the Bowl of Night
| Best Adult Contemporary Album
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2010
| Car Tape 2
| Best Female Artist
|
|-
| Lisa Miller and Shane O'Mara for Car Tape 2
| Producer of the Year
|
|-