Richard Miller – “The Many Voices of Richard Miller”

The Sleeve:

The Liner/Sleeve Notes:
“This album consists of the many vocal sounds of Richard Miller, who was born without arms and legs. He is now a graduate of the University of Texas, is an evangelist, travelling over 34 states and two foreign countries carrying the Gospel in song and testimony.
 Beginning to sing at 3 years of age, he made his first record at that time, and is pictured above at the ages of each new recording, with the title of at least one record listed beneath each picture. To date, Richard has made 14 singles and several long-play albums, with another album scheduled shortly. This album contains a portion of 18 of these songs.
 He has been playing the guitar for 18 years and the organ for 4 years. An instrumental with each is included.
 Thank you for purchasing this albums and others available for $3.50, Richard’s True-Life Story Book for $2.00, and both for $5.00 (all postpaid), at the address below.
 Richard Dale Miller
 1962 Manilla Ave.
 Memphis, Tenn.”

Personal Review:
Okay, so to start this off – this is a compilation of “Little” Richard Miller’s songs. (Kind of like a greatest hits albums, right?) So, the album opens with a song recorded by Richard in (or about) 1945, at three and a half years old, actually, two songs recorded at that age, the first is “Cowboy Sweetheart” – actually, it starts with a spoken introduction by Richard Miller. So, the sound recording (as Richard says in his intro) that the quality isn’t that good, but hey, he’s 3. Anyways, so Richard goes on to sing the song “Rolly Poly” – the recordings are short, and hard to understand due to the age. Skip ahead to Richard at 5 years old, with the song “Rubber Dolly” – and for a 5 year old, he sounds like a 5 year old… Not sure what to say… (Though, I am questioning whether or not these are full songs or not.) Continue onto the song “To My Sorrow” – and the early recordings aren’t as good as his “Jesus Use Me” or “Gospel of Love” LP’s, but once again, as Richard says in his intro, that it needs to be kept in mind that the records are from 1945. So, we go to another year older, age 6 for Richard Miller – he does say he’s never had “music or vocal training” – here is the song “Candy Kisses“, and well, once again, for a kid, he’s good. (Though, not much of a fan of kids singing.) The next track is “Please Don’t Let Me Love You” which starts off with some good ol’ fashioned guitar picking. By this point, the recordings are starting to pick up, Richard is becoming more audible and the recordings sound more fixed… (I think that’s the word.) So, the next song is Richard’s first Gospel track, “Gathering Flowers for the Masters Bouquet” – so, the song also features the vocals of Richard’s mother. Personally, I like this song the most so far. Then he goes back to his country roots with the song “Every Step of the Way” (which by this point, Richard does confirm that most of the tracks so far have been samples. Yes, Richard speaks before each song.)
So that’s the A-Side, so far, so good.

Onto the B-Side now.
Flip to the B-Side, first song that plays is “Don’t Flirt With Me” – He’s 8, by now, (Lol, Richard didn’t like girls at this point hahaha.) The song was recorded in 1951 (You know, woulda been good if he said the year before each song!), so, here comes Richard’s second Gospel song at 9 years old, again with his mother, “Mansion Over the Hilltop” – they’re both good singers. I prefer Richard when he was older though. The next song comes with “I Know the Lord Will Make A Way For Me” (which he later re-recorded for his album “Jesus Use Me” – definitely has to be one of Richard’s more known tracks) and though, I prefer the later version he recorded, this version was still good! Fast forward 10 years, and the track comes with his FINAL country & western track, “I Will Always Remember” at age 21. This is the Richard I love to hear, the older one with a more distinct voice. So, the next two tracks also come from the album “Jesus Use Me” the first is the guitar instrumental by Richard titled “I’ll Fly Away” and the second is an organ instrumental by Richard titled “What a Friend We Have in Jesus“, both songs are amazing examples of Richard’s talent to play the guitar and organ, both are done beautifully and with no formal training. So, Richard decides to throw the song “Rolly Poly” back in at the end, and close the album with his song “The Fire Came Down” which just happens to be my favorite song by Richard Miller.

So, in closing, I’ve had this record sealed for about 2 years (I bought it June 2011) and finally decided to open it, it was a lot more than I had expected. Richard Miller is still alive and kickin’ – you can hear an interview with him here. God Bless Richard Miller!

I wonder if he is still married to the beautiful, Gail.

Interesting Facts:

 Richard Miller – Present Day.

Track Listing:
A1 – Cowboy Sweetheart
A2 – Rolly Poly
A3 – Rubber Dolly
A4 – To My Sorrow
A5 – Candy Kisses
A6 – Please Don’t Let Me Love You
A7 – Gathering Flowers for the Masters Bouquet
A8 – Every Step of the Way

B1 – Don’t Flirt With Me
B2 – Mansion Over the Hilltop
B3 – I Know the Lord Will Make A Way for Me
B4 – I Will Always Remember
B5 – I’ll Fly Away
B6 – What A Friend We Have in Jesus
B7 – Roly Poly
B8 – The Fire Came Down

Label:
Richard Miller Records

Catalog Number:
RLP 474

Studio Musicians & Other Album Credits:
None.

Other Albums I Own by Richard Miller:
“Jesus is On My Side / The Assassination of John F. Kennedy”
“Jesus is On My Side / I Know the Lord Will Make a Way for Me”
“Jesus Use Me”
“Richard Miller Sings & Plays Gospel Favorites”

Other Albums I Own that Richard Miller Appears On:
Richard & Gail Miller – “Richard & Gail Miller Sing the Gospel of Love”

Released:
196?

Related Vinyls:

Richard Miller – “Jesus Use Me” Richard Miller – “Richard Miller Sings & Plays Gospel Favorites” The Handless Organist – “Truly A Miracle of God” The Wheel Chair Singers – “The Famous York Family”