Buddy and Julie Miller

They are the reigning royalty of the alt.country/Americana genre, and clearly are the most interesting couple since George Jones and Tammy Wynette or Johnny Cash and June Carter. And like Johnny and his soulmate Bob Dylan, the Millers take dramatic turns on the big life stuff—fate, desire, death and love—couching the songs in a mesmerizing secular/spiritual duality. The result is potent and prophetic artistry in their first duet album. No wonder Emmylou Harris has championed them. Buddy has a gorgeous and/or gritty (as need be) palette of atmospheric guitar tones and a hillbilly soul howl. Julie’s sensual yet innocent voice covers her timeless scripts like a lion in lamb’s clothing. As they wail in their centerpiece showstopper track, “Dirty Water,” their “truth keeps coming out like blood from a cut.”