Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale at Bowery Ballroom

Jime Lauderdale (left) and Buddy Miller

Austin’s Buddy Miller has played guitar in bands led by Shawn Colvin, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, while also producing records by, among others, Plant and Richard Thompson. Nashville’s Jim Lauderdale has seen his songs recorded by Dixie Chicks, Patty Loveless, Shelby Lynne and George Strait. Miller and Lauderdale crossed paths in New York’s country music clubs in 1980 and bonded over a shared love of George Jones’s music. They have worked together often, including many Americana Music Award shows, where Lauderdale is the longtime host and Miller leads the house band. Miller and Lauderdale also co-host a Saturday night radio program, The Buddy and Jim Show, on Sirius XM’s Outlaw Country station.

After 33 years of friendship, Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale collaborated to record last year and now are touring music clubs as Buddy and Jim. Backed by three other musicians at the Bowery Ballroom tonight, Miller and Lauderdale traded tunes from each other’s catalogue, introduced songs from their new album and completed the 90-minute set with a few classic country and honky-tonk covers. They performed separately and apart, and played a range of American roots music that included country swing and standards, even a touch of bluegrass and rockabilly. The strength of the performance, however, was when they harmonized together to sing like the Everly Brothers.