The next Tyler Childers? Country music storyteller plays The Burl before Red Rocks

In the closing moments of his newest album, John R. Miller serves up an incantation. With the faint accents of co-producer Justin Francis’ Wurlitzer as the only accompaniment to the echoey timbre of his guitar work, the West Virginia-born songsmith paints an uneasy portrait of a homecoming. The song tags the initial urgency of leaving to the scoured reality of returning.

Along with 10 preceding tunes that shift from homey sales pitches for a burned out auto (“Half Ton Van”) to starker, darker and more inward contemplations (“Faustina”), this finale song, titled “Fire Dancer,” establishes Miller as the latest in a line of regional artists – Eastern Kentucky native Tyler Childers and Cincinnati song stylist Arlo McKinley being others – that have not so much reinvented the country music wheel as scraped away the glossy excesses and manufactured sentiments to highlight a worldly storytelling ability.

Like Childers and McKinley, Miller has been playing Lexington stages for awhile, clueing us into a sense of narrative songwriting that much of the country is just now discovering. The biggest step outside of the region came two weeks ago when Miller issued his first nationally distributed album, a record curiously title “Depreciated.”

“I honestly have never been sure when or how a song might present itself,” Miller said. “Usually, it ends up being observational and maybe reflective in that regard. A lot of them seem to stem from past experiences, but I also get a lot of inspiration from other people I know or meet. Songwriting has always been a way for me to process my feelings and try to make a connection with others.”

Miller grew up in the panhandle region of West Virginia, eventually began gigging his way Westward. Childers took a similar route early in his career, but in reverse by establishing a strong fanbase in Huntington from his Lawrence County home base. The inspirations of Miller’s roots may have fueled his writing, but it ultimately fortified a need to get out. He eventually relocated to Nashville.

“I lived in West Virginia up until just a few years ago. It was a great and supportive place to grow up and learn how to play music with people. Not only is it a beautiful place, it felt like nobody was watching us. We could basically do whatever we wanted, which was pretty freeing. There were pockets of bands and musicians all over the region. We’d trade shows at our local Ruritan clubs or VFWs before we were old enough to get into bars.

“There was an intense sort of solidarity there among the DIY (“do it yourself”) musicians and artists when I was younger and I still consider many of those people my dear friends. I also got to learn about traditional regional music in West Virginia — old-time fiddle and banjo tunes. That community and its history have factored into my life a great deal.

“I am fortunate to have been able to play in Kentucky more these past few years. Seeing the incredible community and growing support of music and songwriting there is inspiring in a way I maybe wish we had (known) when I was younger. But the experiences were all valuable.”

Though not part of a musical family in his youth, Miller began absorbing the sounds he heard around him, most of which weren’t inherent to the region he lived in. Enter radio.

“It was the radio when I was real young, the oldies station mostly, which played music up through about 1970 when I was a kid, and MTV when they were still airing music. I had a bunch of tapes I used to wear out. I would record music from the radio so I could listen to it and try to learn it. When I was a teenager I got to know people around my school who were kind of tapped into indie and punk stuff. That was around when I first picked up a guitar and tried to learn some chords.

“I was into punk and then I was into Bob Dylan. Then I got into John Prine and Paul Westerberg of the Replacements both when I was about 18. Their songs, among many others, really spoke to me and made me want to focus harder on trying to write songs.”

Miller’s songs have generated considerable buzz this summer. Liza Lentini wrote in a recent review of “Depreciated” for Spin magazine that “his music reflects a refreshingly raw honesty, reflectiveness and the undeniable beauty in discovery and growth.”

Miller’s contemporaries have been equally impressed. Aside from his headlining performance this weekend at The Burl, Miller will open a Sept. 19 concert by Americana mainstay Son Volt at Headliners Music Hall in Louisville. Then on Sept. 30, he will travel to the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado as part of a bill featuring Childers and fellow country renegade Margo Price.

“Tyler and Margo are both artists I have a great deal of respect and admiration for, and I’m honored to be included on one of those bills.

“It’s a little daunting to be touring in such a capacity for the first time, so I have been bracing for the responsibility that comes with it. But I am certainly happy to get to share the music we make with more people.”

John R. Miller

What: Outdoor country-folk music concert; Miss Tess and the Talkbacks and Darrin Hacquard will open.

When: 8 p.m. July 30

Where: The Burl, 375 Thompson Rd.

Tickets: $20; theburlky.com

Central Kentucky weekend live music concerts

▪ The Grammy-winning singing cowboy troupe Riders in the Sky return to Lexington for a midsummer kickoff to Concerts at the Castle. The group – Ranger Doug, Too Slim, Woody Paul and Joey the Cowpolka King – performs at 7 p.m. July 31 at the Kentucky Castle, 230 Pisgah Pike in Versailles. Tickets are $45-$75 through eventbrite.com.

▪ Violinist and Lexington native Zach Brock returns home to play the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center at 7 p.m. Aug. 1 with guitarist Bob Lanzetti and percussionist Keita Ogawa. All three are members of the multi-genre instrumental band Snarky Puppy, whose “Live at the Royal Albert Hall” won a Grammy as recently as March for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Tickets are $25 though AudienceView Professional (ovationtix.com)

‘The Songs of John Prine’ coming to the Lexington Opera House

Billy Prine and the Prine Time Band sing “The Songs of John Prine,” with special guest Jason Wilber, at The Lexington Opera House Friday, Nov. 19. Billy Prine is the younger brother of John Prine, the legendary country folk signer and songwriter who died earlier this year. Tickets will go on sale 10 a.m., Friday, July 30 at Ticketmaster.com.