Passing on the secrets of bootmaking

Lee Miller's cluttered workspace in a small wooden structure behind his south Austin home could serve as a time capsule preserving the art and craft of his trade: custom-made cowboy boots.

Scraps of leather, old hand tools and glue pots compete for space on work tables with curls of thread, coffee cups and boots in various stages of progress. Wooden and plastic foot molds, or 'lasts,” hang from the ceiling like roosting bats.

The scent of leather fills the room, along with the sound of a hammer tapping. From a speaker comes a medley of tunes by the likes of Neil Young and Lyle Lovett.

This is the life Miller has made for himself for four decades since hitching on with Charlie Dunn, a nearly 80-year-old itinerant boot-maker who agreed to pass along his craft. And now, at 62, Miller sees it as his turn - his duty - to do the same.

'This shop was started with the intention of training people to where (the craft) will continue,” Miller said. 'And now I've been doing it for 42 years. And I need to pass it on.”

The man who makes cowboy boots for such quintessential Texans as Lovett, Tommy Lee Jones and Willie Nelson is actually a Yankee.

Lee Miller grew up in Rutland, Vt., an archetypal New England town known not so much for Western wear as for maple syrup, snowshoes and the Green Mountains.

In school, he gravitated toward art classes. Outside of school, he liked rock ‘n' roll and wearing cowboy boots.

As a teenager, he took a job with a shoe and boot repair shop. He tried to make a pair of boots but kept failing. He finally concluded that he had to attend a bookmaking school.

His search led him to a technical college in Tulsa, Okla., where he learned more than just how to make a pair of boots.

He found the cowboy culture irresistible.

'The more I saw, the more people I met, the more I was exposed to it, the deeper I fell in love with it,” he said. 'And I kind of abandoned the thought of doing anything else other than cowboy boots.”

In November 1977, Miller began working as an apprentice to Dunn, who had established himself as one of the country's best boot-makers. Among Dunn's steady clients were Hollywood stars willing to pay top dollar.

'It was really a wonderful education,” Miller said. 'Here was this man, my grandfather's age, who was an artist. Truly an artist. Very gifted.”

Dunn retired in 1986 and Miller bought the business. He has a backlog of orders for custom-made boots, which start at $2,500 for a simple boot made out of non-exotic leathers and can go up to $10,000 or more.

'You're paying for labor - a lot of labor goes into a handmade cowboy boot,” he said. 'That's the main reason they cost what they do.”