Darnell Miller has been making music for over five decades. He is the true definition of a traditional country entertainer. Born in Bland, VA (where he still resides), Darnell grew up in a household where country music was always being played and enjoyed. His father and uncles were amateur old-timey musicians. Country music could also be heard emanating from the family’s radio. As a young boy, Darnell loved this music and wanted to learn to play it just like the big folks did. One day, the left-handed Darnell picked up his right-handed father’s old guitar and started playing it. His dad taught him some basic chords and promised Darnell that if he learned how to play his guitar, he would buy him one of his own! Darnell’s father kept his promise and bought his son a brand new guitar from the Spiegel catalog, costing $17.98. Now with his own guitar in hand, there was no looking back for Darnell.
Over the next few years Darnell played and sang at family reunions and parties. He often teamed up with his cousin Roger Morehead (on stand-up bass) and they performed as The Virginia Pals. Then their “big break” came. Radio station WHIS in Bluefield, West Virginia broadcast a number of “hillbilly music” programs. One such show, “The Home Folk Barn Dance” featured one-time vaudeville stars turned country sweethearts, “Salt and Peanuts” (Frank Kurtz and Margaret McConnell), held an open audition for new acts for the show. Darnell convinced his father to drive Roger and him to the station for the audition. The audition went well and Darnell and Roger were invited to perform on the road, albeit locally, with Salt and Peanuts. By this time Darnell was in high school and he convinced his principal to let him study outside the high school walls. The principal agreed, provided that Darnell maintain good grades. Off went The Virginia Pals who became local celebrities while earning a whopping $20 a week! After a year, Salt and Pepper decided to retire and Salt’s son, Bud Kurtz invited Darnell and Roger to become part of his own band, “Fiddlin’ Bud & His Buddies”. Shortly thereafter, Roger was drafted in the Army and left the group. Darnell’s “number” never came up and he avoided the draft. During this time, however, Darnell need to earn some real money so he went to work for WHIS-TV, Channel 6, an NBC affiliate in Bluefield. He remained with the station for several years starting off as a prop hand and working his way up the ladder to cameraman and eventually the director of several shows.
In the late 1950’s, WHIS-TV aired a daily live program called “The RFD Jamboree” and a weekly Saturday program called “Country Jamboree”. Darnell was a regular on both shows and his performances piqued the interest of Nashville and Texas music industry executives. In 1959 Darnell was introduced to Don Pierce, the owner of Starday Records (then home to such stars as Roger Miller, Jimmy Dean, Pee Wee King and Moon Mulligan). Pierce signed Darnell to Starday and released a single entitled “Cardboard Sweethearts”. This was followed by “Mommy Will My Doggie Understand” -a tear jerker about a dying little girl asking her mother if her pet dog will miss her when she is gone. The single went on to become a regional hit and gained national fame when Starday included it on their 10-track compilation LP, “Tragic Songs of Death and Sorrow”. The album was advertised on radio station WCKY out of Cincinnati, Ohio and became a best seller.
In 1964 Bob Jennings, the host of an early morning show on Nashville’s radio station WLAC played another Darnell Miller tune, “Back To You”. Jennings loved the tune. In addition to working at WLAC, Jennings was also the publicist for cowboy movie star Gene Autry’s “Four Star Music” publishing company. Jennings asked Darnell to raise money for a “spec session” which Darnell did. They went into RCA’s Studio B and recorded four tunes. Word of Darnell’s music got around and he was visited by RCA’s Chet Atkins and Decca’s Owen Bradley. Atkins and Bradley liked what they heard. Bradley said that Darnell was the “best damn hillbilly singer that he ever heard” but passed on him because Decca had a deal with the Grand Ole Opry and couldn’t sign any traditional acts that weren’t Opry members. Atkins also passed on Darnell because RCA was breaking away from traditional country acts and moving towards a country/pop sound. Determined to get Darnell a record deal, Jennings pitched the tunes to Autry, who owned the Challenge and Republic record labels. Autry proclaimed that “Darnell is one helluva singer” and signed him to Challenge records. Autry also offered Darnell some advice. He told him that he should make “good records and not hit records” – advice that Darnell still adheres to.
Challenge Records released “Show Me The Door” and “The Floor Above The Ceiling” in 1964 and they both became hit singles for Darnell. Another release, “Hinges On The Door” (b-side: “Sold To Form”) became a monster hit. Several singles followed – “Close To Tears”/”You Can’t Make Hay Picking Cotton” (1965); “Bare Facts”/”Rainbow Of Loneliness” (1967); “Hero Of The House”/”My Imagination” (1967).
With the success of “Hinges” Darnell was on the verge of becoming a nationally recognized name. He was invited to perform on the Grand Ole Opry’s Saturday night show and on Bobby Lord’s WSM television program. One afternoon in 1966, Darnell received a telephone call which would forever mark a turning point in his life. The call was from Lee Sutton, the Managing Director of the WWVA Jamboree USA in Wheeling, West Virginia. Sutton invited Darnell to make a guest appearance on the Jamboree. The fifteen minute spot that Darnell did in December of that year resulted in an invitation from Sutton to become a member of the Jamboree. Darnell was honored to accept the offer and over the years, performed regularly with the Jamboree.
In 1971, Darnell was signed to Deneba Records and released the LP, “The Pure Country Sound of Darnell Miller”. His next full length LP, “Forever Yours” was released in 1992 by Playback Records. Three years later he recorded “Country Winners” for Fanfare Records but the album was never released. Then in 2000 Darnell signed with Aaron Records and released a DCD entitled “Voice Activated” which Aaron followed up on 2002 with “Timeless”. Singles from the two Aaron albums were released to radio nationally through Aaron’s compilation discs, and internationally through Hillcrest’s compilation discs. These radio friendly singles have catapulted Darnell to the top of the independent chards world-wide.
Darnell is one of the 5000+ Legends listed on the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame. He’s recently inducted into the Golden Circle of Country Music Honor Society in the state of West Virginia and recipient of a Commendation from the Senate and House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia for his recognition and induction into the Southern Legends and Performing Arts Hall of Fame. He continues to perform today and is available for engagements. To quote a friend of Darnell’s Buddy Ray – “A super-singer….and entertainer’s entertainer”.
