Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about his new memoir, his first new album in 20 years, getting his start on Star Search and more!
Mark Miller of country super group, Sawyer Brown, wants to set the record straight that there is no one named Sawyer Brown, it’s just the name of the band. This year, the band will play their 6,000 show and the only time they’ve ever taken off was due to COVID. If it weren’t for the show, Star Search, there would be a good chance they would never have made it. When they got the call for the show, they were told the first 22 episodes were already booked, but then they got the call they had been bumped and needed to be in L.A. tomorrow, so they flew out there and stayed for six months. They won the first show and made it all the way to the final round where they won the top prize of $100K. From there, wherever they played, people recognized them and started freaking out. When they were playing their music in Nashville, every label turned them down, so their newfound success was rewarding.
The Boys and Me: My Life in the Country Music Supergroup Sawyer Brown, the new memoir from Miller gives a behind-the-scenes look at his upbringing and life in the band. Miller is from Florida and shares stories about growing up there, playing college basketball at the University of Central Florida and being a trick water skier. He recalls a job he had at Walt Disney World where he had to dress as Pinocchio and water ski and do tricks while wearing the costume. It was for a show Disney was doing and he admitted it was hard because he had a rubber head with small eyes and the water would get in the costume and block his view. Miller also recalled the first time he met Larry Bird. He was told he was a big fan, and he got a call while he was in Florida asking if they wanted to golf together. Bird picked him up and on the way to the course, one of Sawyer Browns songs came on the radio and Bird looked at him and rolled his eyes. Then at the golf course, Bird didn’t say one word to him the entire time. They didn’t talk until they got back to the hotel and that’s when Bird told him he had a great time and wanted to golf again tomorrow. He is very introverted, but Miller was relieved because he is the same way.
Their first new album in 20 years, Desperado Troubadour, Cody Jinks wrote the title track. They got to know each other a little when they did the Opry together, but Miller’s daughter lived in Texas for a few years and was a big fan of Jinks and kept telling her dad they needed to write together. They connected on Zoom and wrote “Desperado Troubadour” and “Under This Ole Hat.” Blake Shelton is a producer on the new record and has been a part of the process from start to finish. Miller saw Shelton say in an interview that he is a huge Sawyer Brown fan and called Miller his hero and said he’d love to produce a record for him, so Miller gave him a call. When they started working on it, Miller told him he wanted it to sound 90s and to still sound like them and not like they were chasing anything.
Miller also has a documentary that will be available on streaming soon!