John R. Miller: Humanity is a messy fucking thing

Singer/songwriter John R. Miller’s just returned home with some 30 used CDs. Over the phone, from the thick of the tedium of ripping the disks to his computer for his personal music collection, he’s reveling in the haul: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Tom Waits, Sparklehorse, The Outfield’s Playing the Field, Sunny Day Real Estate, Iron Maiden, Levon Helm, and a couple of sealed Replacements CDs. Like his listening tastes, Miller’s artistry resists any neat descriptor, and he chafes at the country label he’s sometimes stuck with, preferring folk, if necessary; Miller is wary of simplistic assumptions.