Miller Time by Mathias Kom & Toby Goodshank

A tribute to the American singer-Songwriter Roger Miller (1963-1992).

Mathias Kom about the album:

"Many years ago I did a short tour with Toby through some small, strange places in Spain and southern France. Of course, it was a treat to hear Toby Goodshank songs every night, but he also occasionally covered songs like "My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died" or "Tom Green County Fair," and as a fellow Roger Miller enthusiast I’ve been wanting to collaborate on a project like this with Toby for ages. I guess it took the pandemic to give us both the time. We did this all rather casually and slowly, sending bits of songs back and forth to each other down the special information superhighway that links NYC and Prince Edward Island.

Gradually each song took shape, Toby and I inspiring each other to add or subtract parts based on what the other had done. We started by each choosing a batch of songs we wanted to tackle, but we also allowed ourselves to stray off course from time to time. Roger Miller has such an exhaustive catalog of greatness that we could record a dozen more albums like this and still be struggling to narrow down the material. Like Toby, the first Roger Miller songs I ever heard were the ones he wrote for Robin Hood; I remember the prison scene with Miller as Allan-a-Dale the rooster singing "Not in Nottingham" making an especially vivid impression on my tiny child-mind. Then it was years before I heard anything else, but as soon as I did I knew I had found a favorite songwriter.
Every Roger Miller song contains such perfectly proportioned doses of humor and sincerity, silliness and gravity. His songs are endlessly relatable and deeply strange, and he sings as though he’s always winking at you, letting you in on the joke and inviting you, daring you to join in."

portrait by Shintaro Kago