Roger Miller continued to record for different record labels….and charted a few songs….but stopped writing in 1978….after feeling that his more “artistic” works were not appreciated….as he disappeared from the entertainment business following the release of “Old Friends” in 1981….but returned after receiving an offer to write a Broadway score for a musical based upon Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn….and although he had not read the novel, Miller accepted the offer after discovering how the story brought him back to his childhood in rural Oklahoma….albeit took a year and a half to write the opening, but he eventually finished it. The work, titled Big River, premiered at the Eugene O’Neill Theater in New York on April 25, 1985. The musical received glowing reviews….while earning seven Tony Awards including “Best Score” for Miller. He acted the part of Huck Finn’s father Pap for three months after the exit of actor John Goodman….who had left for Hollywood.
In this video seen herewith….Roger Miller invites “his ole buddy” Willie Nelson on stage with him at Austin City Limits in 1983 to sing his hit song “Old Friends”….and we at ImaSportsphile are “tickled pink” to have this “nugget of gold” in our treasure chest of vintage memories.
