Kenny James Miller Band, the powerful blues trio from the Flathead Valley, recently released a CD made from their live performance on the popular Montana PBS television show, “11th & Grant with Eric Funk”.
Funk, a skilled composer and conductor who teaches music at Montana State University in Bozeman, personally selects the Montana talent for the show. The PBS website, watch.montanapbs.org, states that the show seeks to find Montana’s “most acclaimed, accomplished, and pioneering talent.” Well, they got it right by picking the Kenny James Miller Band!
The trio features guitarist and vocalist Ken Sederdahl, bass player Mark Cornett, twice the winner of the Inland Empire Blues Society award for best bassist, and drummer Mark Miller. All are astounding musicians; Sederdahl’s lightning-smooth guitar licks and husky vocals lead the way.
The album features 15 original tunes by a trio that sounds like there’s a lot more players than three making this wonderful sound. Tunes cover many topics, some spiritual, hopeful in nature, as is Sederdahl’s wont. Others touch on hardship and heartbreak. All of them are expressed with high-octane emotion – just how the blues should be played.
“It Ain’t Greener” tumbles out in a tumult of smothering guitar licks and growling Sederdahl vocals as the bass struts in-between drumbeats, careening off wildly at times. “Borderline,” with its Atlanta Rhythm Section nuance, is about trying to sneak into the U.S. and the dangers it poses. “Can’t You Hear Me” is Sederdahl’s rock-suffused plea to the Lord to help him break away from a bad situation. It changes tempo throughout, making for an interesting arrangement.
There’s so much more here. Suffice it to say, this album cooks like crazy, and if you get the chance to see a re-broadcast of the show that aired on April 23, don’t miss it. To get hold of the CD and hear one of the best blues albums to come around in a long while, visit kennyjamesmiller.com.
– Mariss McTucker