Steve Miller credits the current management of Universal Music and his current wife for the 52-song box set,Welcome to the Vault, that will be out Friday.
This is the second box set of Miller's career, following a three-disc effort in 1994 that Miller felt didn't live up to its commercial potential. Asked byThe Washington Postwhy it took so long to release another set, Miller accused the former head of Capitol Records,Gary Gersh, for ruining the roll out of the last one and called him “just a little gangster” and a lot worse. Miller says he hoped they never ran into each other. “I was afraid I was going to see him and beat him to a pulp — because I would’ve, if I had seen him.”
His fourth wife,Janice Ginsberg Miller, was instrumental in putting the collection together. She compiled a list of close to 800 songs, along with video footage and presented it to her husband.
She says, “I would play him ‘Crossroads’ from 1973 and he liked it. Then I showed himDon Kirshner’s Rock Concertand that was one of his favorite performances... And so all of a sudden you’re curating the story with the artist, not of the artist after they’re gone."
Ahead of Friday's release of Welcome to the Vault, Miller is streaming an alternate version of "Fly Like an Eagle."