Editing Roger Miller (section)

=== Late career ===
In 1970, Miller opened the King of the Road Inn, a Nashville hotel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tennessean.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2021/01/15/nashville-then-best-music-photos-50-years-ago-1970/4086866001/|website=The Tennessean|title=Nashville Then: Best 1970 music photos have a little bit of this and that and lot of country|date=January 14, 2021|accessdate=October 30, 2022}}</ref> As [[Brian Carpenter (musician)|Brian Carpenter]] wrote in ''[[Southern Cultures]]'', "With its rooftop lounge and accompanying penthouse suite (complete with a swinging double bed), Miller's King of the Road Inn was, for a time, the unofficial center of Nashville's thriving music scene."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugLVBQAAQBAJ&dq=%22roger+miller%22+%22king+of+the+road+inn%22+nashville&pg=PA120|page=120|first=Brian|last=Carpenter|title=Dashboard Poet: Roger Miller|issue=Winter 2014|date=November 21, 2014|publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=9781469615967 |accessdate=October 30, 2022}}</ref> It is now called the Holiday Inn Downtown Nashville-Stadium.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.frommers.com/destinations/nashville/hotels/clarion-hotel-downtown-nashville-stadium|website=Frommers|title=Clarion Hotel Downtown Nashville-Stadium|accessdate=October 30, 2022}}</ref>

Miller continued to record for different record labels and charted a few songs, but stopped writing in 1978, feeling that his more "artistic" works were not appreciated.<ref name="enc" /> He was absent from the entertainment business following the release of ''Old Friends'' in 1981, but returned after receiving an offer to write a Broadway score for a musical based upon [[Mark Twain]]'s ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]].'' Although he had not read the novel, Miller accepted the offer after discovering how the story brought him back to his childhood in rural Oklahoma.<ref>{{cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/27/arts/roger-miller-quirky-country-singer-and-songwriter-is-dead-at-56.html |title=Roger Miller, Quirky Country Singer and Songwriter, Is Dead at 56 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 27, 1992}}</ref> Miller took a year and a half to write the opening, but he eventually finished it. The work, titled ''[[Big River (musical)|Big River]]'', premiered at the [[Eugene O'Neill Theatre]] in New York City on April 25, 1985. The musical received glowing reviews, earning seven Tony Awards, including "Best Score" for Miller. He acted the part of Huck Finn's father [[List of characters in the Tom Sawyer series#Pap Finn|Pap]] for three months after the exit of actor [[John Goodman]], who left for Hollywood. In 1983, Miller played a dramatic role on an episode of ''[[Quincy, M.E.]]'' He played a country and western singer who is severely burned while freebasing cocaine.<ref name="bio" />

Miller left for [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] to live with his family following the success of ''Big River''. He co-wrote [[Dwight Yoakam]]'s hit "[[It Only Hurts When I Cry]]" from his 1990 album ''[[If There Was a Way]]'', and supplied background vocals.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jurek |first=Thom |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r123540|pure_url=yes}} |title=If There Was a Way |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=July 11, 2010}}</ref> The song was released as a single in 1991, peaking at number seven on country charts.<ref>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r123540/charts-awards/billboard-single|pure_url=yes}} |title=If There Was a Way > Chart & Awards > Billboard Singles |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=July 11, 2010 }}</ref> He began a solo guitar tour in 1990,<ref name="bio" /> ending the following year after being diagnosed with lung cancer.<ref name="bio" /> His last performance on television occurred on a special tribute to Minnie Pearl,<ref name="enc" /> which aired on [[The Nashville Network|TNN]] on October 26, 1992, the day after Miller's death.<ref>{{cite journal|title=In brief|date=October 26, 1992|journal=New York Magazine|page=85}}</ref>