Gothic country pulls into the city

Dan John Miller would like to thank you for your patience, Boston. He and his rising gothic-country band, Blanche, were supposed to play T.T. the Bear's in May, but that show was rescheduled for tomorrow night because Hollywood wanted Miller first. He was cast opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in the upcoming Johnny Cash biopic, ''Walk the Line," as Cash guitarist Luther Perkins. Hence, Boston had to hold.

''Yeah, we're really sorry about that," Miller says from his home in Detroit. ''The movie was a really great experience for me, though. I had done some acting before and was a member of the Screen Actors Guild. The producers wanted someone who could act but also had musical skills."

They must have found a perfect fit in Miller, who, as the lead singer and fiddler for Blanche, cuts an amusing figure. Even if you've never heard a Blanche song, you're bound to find the band's stage aesthetic engaging. Miller's intentionally bugged-out eyes seem to brim with some unknown terror, and his tall, wiry hair suggests Lyle Lovett caught in a windstorm.

Meanwhile, his blushing bride, Tracee Mae Miller, resembles an exotic coal miner's daughter stumbling out of a haunted house as she plays bass and sings, with pursed red lips and even redder hair.

The entire band -- which also includes Dave Feeny on pedal steel, piano, and more; Little Jack Lawrence on banjo and autoharp; and Lisa ''Jaybird" Jannon on drums -- looks plucked from a tattered family photo, circa 1930.

But it's Blanche's music, a strange brew of straight country and slithering indie rock, that has won fans both here and abroad (though mostly abroad).

''We wanted the sound of the band to be very stripped-down and straightforward," Miller says.

Already, the group has snagged high-profile opening gigs for acts such as the White Stripes, Loretta Lynn, Wilco, Neko Case, and, bizarrely enough, Franz Ferdinand.

It turns out the White Stripes connection is strong, since both bands emerged from Detroit's fertile music scene. Before teaming with Meg, Jack White was in the band Two-Star Tabernacle with the Millers. He has been an early and ardent supporter of Blanche, particularly of the band's debut album.

''I think 'If We Can't Trust the Doctors . . .,' despite its optimistic title, is a gentle and emotional distraction from modern radio noise," White said in an e-mail message. ''I enjoy the album thoroughly, with 'Bluebird' being my favorite track. The album is gorgeous, subtle, and forlorn."

As homespun and dusky as it is, ''If We Can't Trust the Doctors . . ." is also heart-rending once you know the back story. The Millers suffered the deaths of three close family members as they were making the album. Their thoughts on faith and displaced trust permeate the album's lyrics, which Miller and his wife wrote together.

''The clouds are hovering a mean blue and purple/ No sunshine in my life anymore/ Spirits are creeping 'round every corner/ I'm petrified, but I'm unlocking my door," he sings on ''So Long Cruel World."

''I have a very weird way of grieving, like I don't really know how to do it," Miller says. ''Music is sort of my way of dealing with death, but I don't know that it necessarily makes me feel any better or anything."

''If We Can't Trust the Doctors . . ." is also clever, sometimes psychedelic (Miller claims '60s garage rockers the Bad Seeds as an influence), and even funny. Miller is willfully spiteful on ''Garbage Picker," when he assumes the identity of a trash man whose loved one rebukes him upon learning his true profession. But he has the last laugh: ''You wish that you'd found out quicker/ You say I didn't tell the truth/ Okay. I admit it/ I'm a 'garbage picker'/ I guess that's why I picked you."

On record and especially in concert, the Millers play up an eccentric take on the classic country duo. They share the sense of humor that George Jones and Tammy Wynette used in their songs. (Remember ''(We're Not) The Jet Set"?) But Dan John Miller's perspective on unrequited love is a bit skewed.

On ''Do You Trust Me?," for example, Miller asks his wife, ''Do you love me?" to which she replies gingerly, ''Yes, I love you." When she asks him the question, he sings, ''I'm not sure." By the end of the song, he's decided ''the lilac's lost its fragrance and the soil has turned to dust," and as such they've called it quits. Now that's country music for you.

Blanche, Runner & the Thermodynamics, and Headband open for the Kills tomorrow at 9:15 p.m. at T.T. the Bear’s Place, Cambridge. Tickets: $10. 617-931–2000.