T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Country singer/songwriter and former “American Idol” contestant Alex Miller swung by the KIX 101.1 studios in Marshalltown on Friday ahead of his performance with Rodney Atkins at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville that night.

After appearing as a contestant on the 19th season of “American Idol” while he was still in high school all the way back in 2021, Alex Miller was approached about parlaying his newfound notoriety into a career playing pop music. The 6’6″ Lancaster, Ky. native known for the unmistakable southern twang in his voice and his reverence for traditional country sounds ultimately had other ideas.

“I always believed that who you are, and if it’s not broke, which it certainly wasn’t for me, then why fix it? They wanted me to do pop music, and I was just not gonna do that. I did the Merle Haggard (song) ‘Silver Wings,’ and you could say they sent me home on a pair of ’em too,” he said. “But I had a great time on the show, and I made it to the top 25. I was on television quite a bit, and it did change my life. I have no doubts. I’m so glad that my mom signed me up for it. I’m just very thankful for it.”

Miller, now 22, made a stop at the KIX 101.1 studios in Marshalltown and played a thus-far unreleased song written by country legend Alan Jackson for host Doris Day on Friday morning before sitting down with the T-R for a brief interview ahead of his show at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville with Rodney Atkins that night. While success on “American Idol,” in its early seasons, may have been considered a golden ticket to stardom, Miller, a singer, songwriter and accomplished guitarist in his own right, spoke about all of the hard work he has put in to build his fan base over the last few years.

“It does take a lot of work to do it after that show, and that show kind of watermarks you for a little while, you know what I mean? ‘He’s just the American Idol guy.’ But I try to be more than that. I’m my own artist. I have my own thing I like to do, my own style, and if people like it, great? If not, that’s fine too,” Miller said.

And as it turns out, sticking to his guns may just pay off for Miller as other artists with an old school sound such as Zach Top, Jake Worthington and Drake Milligan are finding radio success and adoring audiences at live shows across the country.

“There’s a lot of people like me coming up and getting a good following, and yeah, it does occur to me. And I’ve seen it. I mean, I have a decent following myself, and I’ve just done what I love. I just try not to be like anyone else because there’s already been a Morgan Wallen and there’s already been a Zach Top, and I’m gonna try to make an Alex Miller out here in this world,” he said.

The troubadour, who released his first full length album in 2022, is currently working on a follow up that will feature the previously unreleased Jackson song “Secondhand Smoke” as well as a duet with another fixture of ’90s country radio, Tracy Byrd, simply titled “The Byrd.”

“I’ve got some really great songs that are coming, and some of my best stuff, I think, so we’re really excited to get those out and let folks hear them,” Miller said.

He’s also been encouraged by the shifting age demographics at his shows, noting that initially, the audiences were comprised primarily of listeners in their 40s and up, but it has started to trend in a different direction with more of a ’50/50′ split between older and younger fans. Miller said he’s often compared favorably to fellow Kentucky native Ricky Skaggs, which he considers a great compliment, and the two musicians recently met for the first time.

“There’s definitely a thing in Kentucky. I love a lot of Texas music, which is kind of odd, but I kind of try to blend those styles a little bit. But I definitely have a lot of bluegrass in me, and I definitely have a lot of western swing kind of influence too,” Miller said.

As for his impressions of Iowa thus far, Miller remarked that he’d encountered “a lot of corn, but a lot of good people too.”

“You’re like Kentucky. Sometimes we’re the butt end of the joke, but there’s a lot of good people from where we’re both from,” he said.

To learn more about Miller and see upcoming tour dates, visit https://www.alexmillercountry.com/.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.