VALORIE MILLER
Only the Killer Would Know
On her first new album in five years, Valorie Miller writes about one of the most beautiful pieces of
land near Asheville, North Carolina – but not in a way one would expect. The narrative of Only the
Killer Would Know emerged after Miller discovered that her acre of land in Swannanoa sat adjacent
to, if not in the middle of, a hazardous waste area overseen by the government.
Dealing with health issues and eventually leaving the property, Miller finally figured out the
connection years later by talking to her former neighbors and independently researching the
superfund site, so named because of the massive cost necessary to clean up the mess left by
irresponsible corporations – in this case, a company called Chemtronics that manufactured weaponry
and explosives.
“It’s a big, scary, horrible subject, and a lot of these songs grew out of that,” she says. “There’s not
much you can do about those places. They will be toxic for our lifetime and for lifetimes to come.
Writing a song is always how I’ve addressed things in my life, but I’ve never had an inspiration quite
like this.”
“Before this album, I’ve always gone in the studio and tried to figure it out with barely any money.
That can hold you back in certain ways, especially if you’re nervous and unsure about the people
you’re working with,” she says. “It’s a huge relief to make this album. I've always wanted to make a
record that I really like from start to finish, and I’m so glad that it happened. I'm a late bloomer, I
think. I feel like, moving forward, I could make even more music this way.”