Scottie Miller – Hello Pain

“The journey of ‘Hello Pain’ has been like climbing and reaching the summit on Everest,” writes Miller

Scottie Miller – Hello Pain
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital
Label: Independent
Release: 2026

Release date: May 29, 2026

Acclaimed Minneapolis singer / songwriter Scottie Miller shares title track from new album ‘Hello Pain’
Recorded with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra

A collaboration with orchestrator Cierra Alise Hill and the 52-piece Budapest Scoring Orchestra, the record pairs Miller’s blunt, confessional songwriting with a sweeping orchestral backdrop.

“Hello Pain, it’s good to have you here again, I missed the way you made me feel…”

Miller writes of his new single, “I’ve been in recovery a long time, and this song toggles the realms of emotional pain, physical pain, gratitude and the longing to ‘feel the way I used to feel’ as it parallels the end of a long-term relationship with addiction. Lover, muse, drug or booze. Gratitude is everything or it is nothing. ‘The rest is just a lie.’”

It’s been nearly two decades since Scottie Miller — a veteran of 13 albums, two books, and years on the road as Ruthie Foster’s longtime keyboardist — reached a turning point. His marriage was ending, he found sobriety, and he moved into a new home in Minneapolis. He’s still there today, amidst a tangle of memories of a life in music, and relationships that left him at once deeply inspired and quietly self-questioning. That tension sits at the center of Hello Pain as the album traces an emotional arc that mirrors Miller’s recent years.

The seed of Hello Pain was planted while Miller was recovering from a fractured vertebrae. One freezing January morning, on steroids and almost immobilized, he recalled something his spiritual advisor and mentor once told him. When Miller approached him about his condition, looking for sympathy, he replied simply: “Hello, pain.”

“He was greeting that pain with open arms,” Miller recalls. “It’s not meant to be a dark sentiment, but a touchstone to change, growth, and acceptance. Without pain we can’t see joy, and gratitude is everything. Through all those years of ripping and running, drugs and alcohol, I’m amazed I made it this far and am alive to tell the tale,” he says. “I’m a lucky man to find such grace.”

An additional driving force behind the record was Miller’s long association with singer songwriter Ruthie Foster. A co-write on the song “Stay” featured in Scottie’s acclaimed poetry book and album Carnival Cocoon and featuring him during her shows; a trip to the 2024 Grammy’s®️ for his collaboration on her nominated album Healing Time; vocal and production consultation through the recording process of Hello Pain, and a generous birthday present of new recording equipment and software as he was writing all helped bring the album to life.

“It’s Scottie’s finest work yet,” writes Foster. “Emotional, uplifting, and deeply stirring from start to finish. I had to pull the car over just to listen. A truly beautiful record.”

As the songs that comprise Hello Pain came into focus, Miller began to form a more expansive vision for the album. “For the demos, I started composing orchestration from samples and synthesized sounds,” Miller says. “But I didn’t want to go digital. I like to record with real people, real players.” Miller ultimately found his perfect pairing in orchestrator Cierra Alise Hill and the Budapest Scoring Orchestra.

Hill shares, “collaborating with Scottie on this project has been nothing short of a dream. When Scottie said he wanted to make this album cinematic and we started talking about the possibilities of hiring a full size orchestra, it opened up so many possibilities for me as an arranger and orchestrator. The scores exploded with parts and ideas. A full string orchestra, plus the wind and brass sections and percussion, added such a huge sound to the songs and gave us so many textures to work with.”

Balint Sapszon, Director and Manager of the Budapest Scoring Orchestra writes that “There is something very genuine about Scottie Miller’s songwriting—the simplicity of the songs and the strength of his vocal performance make them very moving. It was a pleasure for us to record the orchestral parts in Rottenbiller Studios with a 40-piece string ensemble, woodwinds and French horns, helping to broaden the musical landscape behind the songs. Scottie joined us remotely from Minneapolis, yet the collaboration with the conductor and musicians felt immediate and natural. We’re very happy to have been part of this wonderful album and look forward to working with him again.”

“The journey of ‘Hello Pain’ has been like climbing and reaching the summit on Everest,” writes Miller. “I bare my soul in these songs, and to have them supported with the cinematic grandeur of the Budapest Scoring Orchestra has only raised the peak. Cierra’s arranging and orchestration brought this dream into stunning reality. There are 56 human beings pouring their soul and energy into this music, and I have never felt such a sense of gratitude for community, or depth in expression.”

And I’ll wait until the night returns to see what we both need to learn
Uncovered there beneath the veil all the knowledge of our tale
Revealed within this sacred dream a witness to what might have been
If love should grant us to remain I never want to wake again

So sings Miller in “The Garden,” reminding himself that beauty and life can flourish from the darkest places — as long as you can face the pain and say hello.

Website: https://scottiemiller.com/welcome

Tracks:
01. Just Checking In
02. Hello Pain
03. Every Song
04. What Have I Done
05. The Garden
06. Underneath the Black Oaks
07. Awake and Willing
08. Balance
09. Mercy
10. I’ll Be damned