That’s the exciting thing about emerging indie artists – one day, you’re just ho-humming along, listening to the same ol’ same ol’ and the next day is August 15, 2021, and you’re graced with a fresh, super unique father and daughter duo like L.A. Cowboy (aka singer/songwriter/producer J. Frederick Millea) and his incredible daughter, sultry jazz/pop singer Lady Millea.
And then, once you’ve listened to both, your musical sensibilities are never quite the same. Even if they’re not vocalizing at the same time and the styles of their debut albums (his: The Big Pitch hers: I Don’t Mind Missing You) are different in tone, theme and vibe, there’s a powerful connection in that J Frederick wrote and arranged and produced Lady’s soothing, sensual and richly soulful 9-track gem. The promo materials present the two part question, “Where did this equally unknown and elegant musical ingenue come from and why have we never heard of her?”
The mystery is fun, but her lack of professional background is easy to explain because her dad took years to get his own projects off the ground and most likely used Lady to record the demos of his more romantic tunes like the balmy, easy swaying title track and the sweet, smoky breakup tune (and lead single) “Slow Healing.”
Once they realized how incredible, and more importantly, mass appealing and marketable, they were, J. Frederick created a boutique label, Reconcile Records, to showcase both of them, and maybe others under the philosophy, “Music that stimulates the mind as well as the senses.” So though perhaps Lady Millea’s emergence was unintentional, she’s truly a vocal force to be reckoned with – and the fact that her style is so different from her dad’s more satirical, big band flavored vibe can only help set her apart as time goes by.
For those who really want to immerse in these two Milleas, there are two crossover tunes that appear in very different forms on both albums – the whimsical Van Gogh immersion “The Museum” and the lighthearted closer on each, “Why Do I?”