Nashville songwriter On leaving the Army, Miller traveled to Nashville to begin his musical career. He met with
Chet Atkins, who asked to hear him sing, lending him a guitar, since Miller did not own one. Out of nervousness, Miller played the guitar and sang a song in two different keys. Atkins advised him to come back later, when he had more experience. Miller found work as a bellhop at Nashville's Andrew Jackson Hotel, and he was soon known as the "singing bellhop". He was finally hired by
Minnie Pearl to play the fiddle in her band. He then met
George Jones, who introduced him to music executives from the
Starday Records label, who scheduled an audition. Impressed, the executives set up a recording session with Jones in
Houston. Jones and Miller collaborated to write "Tall, Tall Trees" and "Happy Child." Miller then signed with
Tree Publishing on a salary of $50 a week. He wrote: "Half a Mind" for
Ernest Tubb, "That's the Way I Feel" for Faron Young, and his first number one, "Billy Bayou", which along with "Home" was recorded by
Jim Reeves. Miller became one of the biggest songwriters of the 1950s.
Bill Anderson later remarked, "Roger was the most talented, and least disciplined, person that you could imagine", citing the attempts of Miller's Tree Publishing boss,
Buddy Killen to force him to finish a piece. He was known to give away lines, inciting many Nashville songwriters to follow him around since, according to Killen, "everything he said was a potential song." Miller soon tired of writing songs, divorced his wife, and began a party lifestyle that earned him the moniker "wild child". He was dropped from his record label and began to pursue other interests. Miller was given
his own TV show on NBC in September 1966. It lasted for 13 weeks, and ended its run in January 1967. During this period, Miller recorded songs written by other songwriters. The final hit of his own composition was "Walkin in the Sunshine", which reached number seven on the country and number six on the adult contemporary charts in 1967. As
Brian Carpenter wrote in
Southern Cultures, "With its rooftop lounge and accompanying penthouse suite (complete with a swinging double bed), Miller's King of the Road Inn was, for a time, the unofficial center of Nashville's thriving music scene." It is now called the Holiday Inn Downtown Nashville-Stadium. Miller continued to record for different record labels and charted a few songs, but stopped writing in 1978, feeling that his more "artistic" works were not appreciated. Miller took a year and a half to write the opening, but he eventually finished it. The work, titled
Big River, premiered at the
Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York City on April 25, 1985. The musical received glowing reviews, earning seven Tony Awards, including "Best Score" for Miller. He acted the part of Huck Finn's father
Pap for three months after the exit of actor
John Goodman, who left for Hollywood. In 1983, Miller played a dramatic role on an episode of
Quincy, M.E. He played a country and western singer who is severely burned while freebasing cocaine. The song was released as a single in 1991, peaking at number seven on country charts. He began a solo guitar tour in 1990, == Style ==