Miller released an album "Letterbox" in 2017, and then in 2018 parted ways with Nashville-based Curb Records with whom she had been working for ten years. The switch demanded courage and trust in God, she said, and both of which are reflected in the lyrics of the new album.
"I never really know what's happening, besides the next couple of weeks, which has been a little bit of a trust lesson here," Miller said.
She needed to find investors for her independent album, and fans stepped up in support. By investing, they would receive dividends from each time her music is streamed through Spotify and Apple Music.
A support team that included Sean Fowler, the founder and CEO of digital distribution leader Tone Tree, and Erik Anderson, publicist for Missing Piece Group, helped promote Miller's music online. Her track "Imaginary Friend" was streamed more than 300,000 times in its first two months on Apple Music.
"I've just seen God already bless this music," Miller said.
With her new album, Miller said she is both setting out on her own and moving back in. Her newly established freedom as an independent artist has afforded her the opportunity to return to the sound of bluegrass music she grew up listening to, "organic, earthy music," lyrically that was "authentically me," she said.
"To a secular audience," she said, "'Little Dreams' is a bit more about just believing in yourself and believing in your dream."
"If you kind of dig deeper," she continued, "you see that I'm actually talking about how all of us are created for a purpose, to do something that no one else can do." The title also emphasizes the beauty of the small, everyday encounters with one soul that "echoes into eternity," she said.
References to faith and literature are evident throughout the album. The track "More Than What I see" includes the lyric "late have I loved this gift," which Miller said is a nod to St. Augustine's famous declaration in his Confessions "late have I loved thee" and her own desire to rely on Divine Providence.
Other songs include allusions and references to writers as varied as John Steinbeck and St. John Henry Newman.
Miller hopes to return to live in-person concerts soon. In the meantime, as her audience listens online, "hopefully, this music brings them peace and hope," she said, "and just a little bit of relaxation in a pretty stressful time."
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Matt Hadro was the political editor at Catholic News Agency through October 2021. He previously worked as CNA senior D.C. correspondent and as a press secretary for U.S. Congressman Chris Smith.