Born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1936 and raised by relatives in Erick, Oklahoma after his father's death, Roger Miller worked as a ranch hand and fiddler before landing in Nashville as a songwriter and drummer for artists like Faron Young. His own recordings, especially 1965's 'King of the Road' and the loose, tongue-twisting novelty of 'You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd,' fused honky-tonk musicianship with a jazz-inflected sense of rhythm and free-associative wordplay unlike anything else on country radio. That anything-goes approach to lyric writing made Miller a formative discovery for the next generation of songwriters, including John Prine, who credited him directly with proving a song could be about literally anything.

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1965

King of the RoadRoger Miller