John R. Miller has released his fifth album, The Great Unknowing, out now on physical formats via Rounder Records, with the digital release to follow on 17 July 2026. To mark it, he has shared an animated video for focus track ‘Don’t Bet On Me’.
A song about embracing life outside the norm, ‘Don’t Bet On Me’ arrives with a psychedelic animated video from Appalachian animator Heath Holley, a wild, Fear and Loathing styled ride in which Miller heads for Vegas and finds himself hounded by a snake, a crow and a scorpion. “Those scenes where the critters return as fully realised characters ended up being some of my favourites to animate,” Holley says of bringing the creatures back as antagonists in the final act.
Born in the Washington DC area and raised in West Virginia, Miller has built a reputation as one of the most thoughtful voices in contemporary Americana, drawing on punk, traditional Appalachian music and less conventional rock influences. For The Great Unknowing he left his comfort zone behind and travelled to Tulsa, recording at the legendary Church Studio, drawn by the city’s deep musical legacy and its ties to artists like J.J. Cale.
Co-produced with longtime collaborator Adam Meisterhans, the album was tracked live with a band of celebrated Tulsa players, including Grammy nominated John Fullbright, whose piano and keyboard work threads throughout. At the centre of the sessions sat the studio’s fully restored 1977 Neve 8068 console, once owned by Daniel Lanois and used on landmark recordings including Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind.
The decision to release the album physically first came from Miller’s love of local record shops. “Maybe I’m a romantic, but I want to see the places I love, brick and mortar shops you can walk into with music and books and art made by humans, continue to exist into the future,” he says.
The album expands on the road worn storytelling of Depreciated and Heat Comes Down while pushing into new territory, and it closes with a cover of Mark Knopfler’s ‘Walk of Life’.
The Great Unknowing is out now on physical formats, with the digital release on 17 July 2026 via Rounder Records.
