| Blue Pony | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Julie Miller |
| Cover: | Julie Miller - Blue Pony.jpg |
| Released: | 1997 |
| Label: | HighTone[1] |
| Producer: | Julie Miller, Buddy Miller |
| Prev Title: | Invisible Girl |
| Prev Year: | 1994 |
| Next Title: | Broken Things |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
Blue Pony is an album by the American musician Julie Miller, released in 1997.[2] [3] It was Miller's first album of secular music.[4] [5]
Miller supported the album by touring with Emmylou Harris.[6] [7]
The album was produced by Julie and Buddy Miller. It was recorded in the Millers' Nashville dining room.[8] Steve Earle sang on "I Call on You", Emmylou Harris on "Forever My Beloved".[9] "Face of Appalachia" is a cover of the John Sebastian/Lowell George song.[10] "Dancing Girl" is about child prostitution in Thailand.[11]
The Washington Post wrote that "the songs are given mostly acoustic, string-band arrangements that take on a chamber-music flavor when violinist Tammy Rogers or cellist Matt Slocum join in."[12] Entertainment Weekly deemed the album "one of the year’s most haunting surprises," writing that Miller is "armed with dark, poetic lyrics about betrayal, redemption, and the damage caused by long-held secrets." The Los Angeles Times called it "a touching, poetic album that is among the year's strongest progressive-country releases."[13]
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution determined that, "with a winsome voice pitched somewhere between innocence and experience, Julie Miller's debut is smart, heartfelt and catchy as hell." The Los Angeles Daily News opined that "Miller's gorgeous record has a steely center." The Philadelphia Inquirer labeled it "a mix of exquisite songwriting, Appalachian yearning and up-to-the-minute ethereality."[14]
AllMusic called the album "a wonderful slice of contemporary country that draws heavily on both folk and rock music."