‘Blackland Farmer’ Hit Maker Frankie Miller Passes

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Frankie Miller

Texas-based country singer Frankie Miller, who originated the evergreen “Blackland Farmer,” has died at age 95.

Miller was born in East Texas in 1931. He excelled at football during his teen years. He formed a band called The Drifting Texans and signed with Gilt Edge Records (a subsidiary of 4-Star) in Houston. His 1951 efforts for that label were unsuccessful.

He joined the Army during the Korean War and earned a Bronze Star. Frankie Miller signed with Columbia Records in 1954 and joined the cast of Fort Worth’s Cowtown Hoedown later in the 1950s.

His heyday began when he signed with Nashville’s Starday Records in 1959. The label issued his self-penned “Black Land Farmer” that year, and it rose to No. 5 on the country hit parade. Miller followed it with “Family Man,” another top-10 hit.

Merle Kilgore’s sentimental “Baby Rocked Her Dolly” hit No. 15 for Miller in 1960. Frankie Miller was named the Most Promising Male Country Singer of 1960 by Cash Box magazine. He joined the cast of The Louisiana Hayride on KWKH in Shreveport.

Thanks to renewed airplay in Texas and Michigan, “Black Land Farmer” became a hit for Miller a second time in 1961. The song has since been recorded by Faron Young, Elizabeth Cook, Wink Martindale, Hard Working Americans, Pat Boone, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Gilmer, Steve Young, Sleepy LaBeef and a number of others.

Miller’s final chart entry was 1964’s “A Little South of Memphis.” He signed with United Artists in 1965, but no further hits ensued.

His straightforward, spare, honky-tonk style was out of step with the more-produced Nashville Sound stylists that were then ascending. In addition, he reportedly lacked ambition and suffered from stage fright.

Miller left the music business. He went to work at a Chrysler dealership in Arlington, Texas.

In the 1980s, he became a cult figure, with record collectors avidly championing him as a nearly forgotten country stylist. Reissues of his tunes were issued by Germany’s Bear Family Records label in 1983. In 2006, Frankie Miller returned to recording via the Heart of Texas Records label.

Tracy Pitcox, President of Heart of Texas Records, shared the news of his death, writing, “Frankie had just completed work and released his biography, The Blackland Farmer: Life Among Country Music Legends, written by Greg Wilson. He remained active in the industry and continued to enjoy making music into his 90s. He even was a special guest and performed with his long-time friend Willie Nelson a few years ago at the Luck Reunion.”

Miller is survived by his daughters Sandi Wilson and Lori Chaney, their husbands Greg Wilson and William Chaney, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Services have not yet been announced.

Robert K Oermann
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