Go ahead – try it.

Say the name of Roger Miller out loud and don’t smile.

Impossible isn’t it?

The name instantly conjures up wonderful memories for those of us fortunate to have experienced country music when he was indeed ‘King of the Road.’

He had a rare magnetic personality that transcended the mediums of print and television. He reached out past the molded wax rings of his records and touched you. He made me you smile, made you think, made you laugh and sometimes shed a tear. He was complex and simple. You found in Roger Miller’s music just what you needed; depending how deep you needed to dig. The word genius simply pales beside his name.

It’s seems odd when you consider that no one has ever taken the time to write about Roger Miller at such length until now. Almost everyone in the business has a Roger Miller story – and now thanks to Canadian musician, songwriter and author, Lyle E Style, many of those stories are written down for posterity. Style discovered the magic of Roger Miller after the legend had passed on, but the impact was profound and reverberates to this day.

Ain’t Got No Cigarettes” (Great Plains Publishing) is an unexpected wealth of country music history coupled with the personal and intimate story of an eclectic genius told through the fond memories of his friends. We’re fortunate that someone’s taken the time to write it down to preserve it.

Style has a knack of being in the right place at the right time and taking full advantage of it. The book has almost one hundred ‘one on one’ interviews with many of the people Roger’s life impacted including memorable conversations with legends such as Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

 “I believe you have to make things happen for yourself, I just decided this book needed to be written, I never had any doubt that I would get to talk to him or any others for that matter and I think that helped in making it a reality. I'll share the main secret to lining up interviews: I never asked if it would be possible to interview them, I'd respectfully ask when would be a good time to interview them.”

 In fact, the first interview Lyle snagged for the book was a gem – Merle Haggard.

 “I drove to Grand Forks, North Dakota to see his concert just knowing I would meet him and at least talk to him about my book idea. I didn't have anything lined up in advance other than seeing it in my mind's eye. I introduced myself to his manager and then landed an introduction.”

 “He's never been approached to chat about Roger Miller before (as with most people I interviewed) so he was more than willing to share some stories.”

 Style’s direct and confident approach worked more than well, and he recalls only one resistant interviewee.

 “I'm a huge Lee Hazlewood fan. I knew Roger lived with him for a while in California , I really wanted to chat with Lee about it and he pretty much told me off. Sometimes it's best not to meet your heroes or have any contact with them; I haven't listened to too much Lee Hazlewood music since. Overall though, most everyone I chatted with or approached to do an interview was very nice to me and accommodating.”

 When I asked Lyle what makes Roger Miller so endearingly 'real' and iconic in the same breath, Style’s answer is quick and poignant.

 “Roger Miller was himself all the time. I've been told that by many people. He was the same person on stage as he was offstage, which is unlike many celebrities who put on an act for the audience and media but aren't so nice in real life. I guess that could make Roger "iconic" because that's the same way Jesus was from what I've read: he practiced what he preached, and he was the same to people if he was preaching to mass crowds, hanging out with friends, even on the cross. You got to respect and admire that.”

 Those of us who remember wouldn’t argue any of those points, and thanks to this heart-driven project perhaps many more will be converted.

 Style believes strongly in the enduring pertinence that Roger’s legacy holds.

 “I believe you can learn a lot from the past, be it from someone's successes or by learning from their mistakes. You can learn a lot from Roger's life and about the cost of fame. He was completely unique and a true artist. Too many people out there in my opinion are giving the public, media and record labels exactly what they want, and that's sad because we aren't seeing much that is unique these days. I think artists and people in general should be themselves like Roger was himself, he didn't edit himself in any situation and I think that's awesome.”

 Ironically, Style considers the most compelling point of Roger Miller’s legacy to be how someone so talented could, in some circles, be so often overlooked, underappreciated and in some cases, forgotten.

 “I think it opened my eyes to how someone with as much talent could almost be forgotten because he didn't fall into the traditional mold of country or pop artists. I feel Roger Miller, although he is no longer with us is still more interesting than anyone out there, and that his back catalog of music (that few people have dug into) is better than what's being released today. It's sad that Roger hasn't gotten the respect and attention he truly deserves; I hope this book helps spark more interest in him. He has so much material not re-released on CD and even some studio albums that weren't released, not to mention tons of television footage including his own series in 1966 on NBC. He was the most spontaneous, witty and creative performer out there and I think that material should be made available to his fans and just to the public in general as historic footage.”

 During his four year literary journey Lyle made some personal discoveries about Roger that hadn’t been obvious to him at the onset. Although Roger’s public image was a relatively pristine one but there was another side to him that, although he didn’t try to hide, was relatively unknown outside of his circle of peers and friends.

 “I would have never guessed that the clean-cut "King of the Road" was into the drug scene, although listening to some of his lyrics now, it's obvious: "Here I sit high getting ideas...", "The moon is high and so am I...". I guess I thought those were just sayings he used in his songs, I didn't think he was writing from experience. It was a side of him and the country music industry that I never knew existed to that degree.”

 “Roger was country music's original outlaw. He was doing things his own way long before the outlaw movement in the 1970's and it seems that he was living the rock and roll lifestyle before anyone too. In fact, he may have invented it.”

 “I also had no idea how intelligent, eccentric and complex Roger Miller was.” He continues, “He could rebuild a clock from scratch! And there was another side of him I didn't expect, I couldn't imagine going to see Roger Miller in concert and see him tell the crowd to "F--- off" and walk off stage halfway through a show, but it happened quite a few times in the 1970's when he was frustrated with his career.”

 Now that the book is in print, published and available to the buying public Lyle’s concentrating on his music. “My next project is recording a new CD, it's been a long time coming. I have enough original material to do a boxed set but I believe the next release will be "Cutting Room Floor". It's going to feature songs I wrote and co-wrote, mixed in with my versions of unreleased tracks by Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Roger Miller, Waylon Jennings and a killer cover of Tompall's "Put Another Log On The Fire".”

 But after spending four years on this project, Roger Miller’s still not out of his system. There is talk of a documentary of "Ain't Got No Cigarettes" and there may even be a follow-up book on Roger Miller. “I'm still collecting Roger stories, one-liners, photos and rarities. I've also been chatting with a few people about some other book concepts on artists that never quite got the attention I feel they deserved.”

TCB note: I’ve read this book through twice and I know I’ll pick it up again before too long. I can’t recommend this one highly enough. It’s a quintessential snapshot into the life of country music most charming genius.

- Laurie Joulie

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