Ep 185: Rhett Miller

First Draft Episode #184: Rhett Miller

Rhett Miller (find him on Twitter and Instagram), musician and
writer, is a solo artist as well as lead singer of The Old 97s.
His first book for children, No More Poems: A Book in Verse That
Just Gets Worse, illustrated by Dan Santat (listen to his First
Draft episode here).
Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode


How Rhett’s given name is Stewart Ransom, sorta like Ransom
Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
(listen to his First Draft podcast episode here)

His childhood biking to the original location of Half-Price
Books, now a national chain.

Rhett tore through the Ian Fleming James Bond series as a
kid

And he got to meet one of his literary heroes, Kurt
Vonnegut, in real life, but the interaction didn’t go quite as
planned

As a kid, Rhett’s mother would read aloud to them Helter
Skelter, the account of the Charles Manson and Manson Family
murders written by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

I discuss how Jon Klassen was on First Draft and discussed
becoming a more empathetic, feeling person and artist as he
grew older

Stephen King books that had an impact on Rhett include On
Writing, 11/22/63, and his book with his son, Owen King,
Sleeping Beauties




 


The Fault in Our Stars by John Green being one of the books
Rhett has read with his kids as a way to talk about difficult
subjects, head-on



 


How being inspired by writers like Raymond Carver led to a
disagreement with his creative writing teacher at Sarah Lawrence

“The Messenger,” Rhett’s most recent solo album

“My Generation,” the song where The Who famously said they’d
rather die than get old

Willie Nelson, patron saint of Americana music

Rhett’s buddy Mickey Raphael, harmonica player for Willie
Nelson

Other artists giving Americana a moment: Jason Isbell; Chris
Stapleton; and Brandi Carlile

“We Could Have Been the Cowboys,” Rhett’s article for Sports
Illustrated

Rhett wrote a paper about Gustav Klimpt for his
then-girlfriend, who was getting a graduate degree in art history

John Dickson Carr, an early whodunit writer, the inventor of
the “locked room” drama

Ben Acker (listen to his First Draft podcast here), who
introduced Rhett to First Draft and, thereby, the illustrator of
No More Poems, Dan Santat (listen to his First Draft podcast
here)

Megan Tingley, editor at Little, Brown

e e cummings, the poet who inspired Rhett’s dedication to
non-punctuation

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Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author
of Divergent, Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of
Avatar: The Last Airbender, or John August, screenwriter of Big
Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.


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