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Sheri Miller was born into a musical household on Long Island, New York; and music was a part of her life from the start. Her mother, an opera singer and pianist, and a recording engineer uncle helped influence Sheri to begin writing original songs as a young child.
Later as an adult in college at the University of Pennsylvania, she studied literature and poetry, sang with a local blues band and continued to write songs.
Over the course of several months Sheri would have recurring dreams of keyboards and one evening had an especially vivid dream of buying a small black, white and grey Casio keyboard.
The next morning with that image fresh in her mind she took a different route for her daily walk. She came upon a one-day church sale and to her amazement found the exact Casio keyboard from her dream. So for $20 dollars she purchased the keyboard and it became her songwriting companion from that day forward.
After college she moved back to New York, taking up residence in Brooklyn and practicing her acoustic guitar and keyboard compositions for hours in her basement apartment. The influences of poets and classical composers helped Sheri develop her own sensual musical style of bluesy American soul meets classic British melodic-pop.
She developed and polished her live performances with steady rounds of open-mic nights at The Raven. Soon she was appearing on stage at well known venues such as The Bowery Ballroom, Joe’s Pub, World Cafe Live, The Bluebird Cafe, The Canal Room and The Living Room. She also has a song featured on the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Compilation, Vol. 4.
And now she has released her first independent album called “Mantra“.
Songs played:
Waste My Breath
Mantra (I’m In Love)
Devil In White
The Blade
Right Here Right Now
All He Has To Do
Visit Sheri Miller on Myspace
Podcast promos played: Ed’s Mixed Bag, The Karmynkast
This week has been especially enjoyable for me because three of my favorite musical acts were in town for live performances. I had the chance to visit with Jamie McLean and his band as they started the first show of their current tour here in Charleston. Jamie is about ready to release his new CD and he and the band sound as great as ever.
A few days later I saw a double bill with The Fire Apes and Ruby James. Ruby is fresh from her CD release parties in both L.A. and Atlanta and was joined on stage once again by her guitarist/songwriting partner Rene Reyes. She featured songs from her new CD “Desert Rose”. The Fire Apes finished the evening with another high energy show and performed many of the songs destined for a new CD to be recorded this summer.
Todays show features songs from these talented musicians, as well as other excellent tunes previously featured on The Big Break Music Podcast. Once again, today’s lineup is an eclectic mix of genres and styles and fits perfectly with the springtime mood I’m in.
Starting off the set is The Fire Apes and their most popular song Hey Kate. Rolling right after that is a song by Reverend Zen with a strong Steely Dan vibe called My Sigmund Freud.
One of the songs Jamie McLean played the other night is Woman Stay. I’ve always loved this track off his “This Time Around” CD and it’s especially good done live. Another song from a returning artist is Brother Love with Lost Weekend.
A return visit from Tim Hawkins with his infomercial styled song Kids Rock adds a comedy layer to this episode.
After a short promo for my recent interview with Ruby James we then get to hear the the title track from her latest CD Desert Rose. Another shift in musical style in this week’s episode comes in the tune Joan Of Arc by 46bliss off their album “Wish Me Away“. I continue the set with Baby I Love You by Diana Page and close it out with Southern Highway by Erik Viel.
The band Wiser Time provides a tune that reminds me somewhat of the Dave Matthews band with their song Gonna Be Sure.
I then mellow things out near the end of the show with two wonderful tracks from female artists I could listen to all day. Beth Hirsch starts off with Wholehearted and I close the show with a wonderful rendition of the old “Tbone” Walker song They Call It Stormy Monday by Christi Ana Perez.