Lee Miller Boots Video (Texas Country Reporter)

Legendary boot maker Charlie Dunn may be gone, but his work lives on through his apprentice. Lee Miller Texas Traditions 2222 College Avenue Austin, TX Phone: 512-443-4447 Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TCRbob

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[Music] it seems these days you can learn just about anything on the internet cyberspace has instructions for this a how-to for that plus online shortcuts tips and tricks that promise to make schools and hands-on experience darn near obsolete don't believe a word of it there is no substitute for true craftsmanship born from a lifetime of learning the old-fashioned ways are alive and well if you know where to look and if you look right here in lee miller's austin boot shop you will soon learn you are in the presence of a master who learned his trade from those who came before him making boots is not easy not only do you have to fit the foot which is very very difficult but you also have to you have to craft you know a perfect boot the artistry can be very challenging of it and then also too you have to fit the customer's mind about what these are supposed to feel like lee started making boots when he was just 19 years old back then he was a kid from vermont with a little bit of talent and a bunch of big dreams that teenage kid found his way to an oklahoma boot school and then as fate would have it his future found him he was invited to come work for the man many consider to be the greatest and most famous boot maker of all time charlie dunn [Music] it was 1972 when charlie dunn was immortalized in song by texas country music legend jerry jeff walker wasn't long after that when lee miller went to work for charlie as a young apprentice and soon learned that his ego might have taken him to a place where his talent had no business the young boot maker from vermont thought the position just might be too big for his boots it was definitely a level of boot making i had never seen before you know i thought i was good and i was thrilled that i could go to work for charlie dunn this you know the legendary charlie dunn but i remember when i walked in here uh thanksgiving of 1977 and i saw the caliber of work that they were doing in this shop i knew immediately i was in trouble you know because this was this was the height and i was like at the bottom and so um it was very very hard and and there were many times when i just thought i couldn't do it [Music] you know when you're 18 years old and you start out on a path you really don't know much about anything but you do know that you want to do this thing and and who would have ever thought that i would have gotten good at doing this thing you know it's just magic or god or whatever but you know it was and or my desire to just keep doing it four decades and thousands of boots have scooted through this shop in all dunn spent nearly 80 years making manly footwear he died in 1993 some say he went to heaven to make boots others say he never really left at all this is his shop these are his tools his foot lasts hang from the ceiling with names of celebrities cowboys and common men these are his machines that were antiques when he bought them and this is his apprentice still here still doing things the charlie dunn way may be the best there is now who says he still feels his teacher's presence with every boot he makes charlie was very um stern about the fact that he believed a good boot should be made in a certain way and if you ever ever don't do that you feel like he's right behind you and he's going you failed well you know you can't do that i didn't teach you how to do it that way you're you're not you know you're not standing up and doing it right so absolutely every pair of boots that we make has a little bit of charlie in them [Music] just for a second too often with stories like these we are forced to tell you that the master has no apprentice that there is no one to pass on the knowledge to that this is the end of the line not so this time there's been alvarado who's been here for more than two decades and then there's casey laframboys a 25 year old boot making apprentice from new england who understands that what she learns in this storage shop could never be found in a book a class or a computer it's a challenge to to stick with something like handmade boots it takes so long to develop your craft and so um so i think of it as a challenge and then i just want to be like the best you know i want to be really good and it takes time so i'm just enjoying like working with lee and learning everything that he um that he knows and and learning about how he learned how to make boots peggy that we're gonna i'm gonna take an ink print of your feet this is a pedograph and so what it's gonna do it's gonna give me pressure points and things like that it's gonna show your arch all the different bones and things like that it takes a special man to live in the shadow of a great one lee miller is a master boot maker in his own right but the memory of charlie dunn defines his business lee is at peace with that he says there's still plenty to learn and it's that humble attitude and his extraordinary talent that keeps people coming back charlie always said when asked they would say well how long does it take to be a boot maker and charlie would respond with a question how long do you expect to live and that really what is what boot making is you're a humble man you know that well i guess [Laughter] i'm just really it's funny because i'm just doing what i like to do and it's that simple lee miller calls the business he took over from charlie dunn texas traditions and his boots and his history certainly are a testament to that oh sure there's plenty of boot makers to be found some darn good ones too but from the red to the rio grande you won't find another like lee miller who was taught how to be the best by the man some say was the best there ever was like a pair of lee millers for yourself get in line the waiting list now stands at four years and it's getting longer every day [Music] there's so many good people out there and you realize that you know you've just got to keep trying to be better every day i never did it to carry on a tradition but that's what it's become [Music] you