First secret admission...I discovered the Beatles late. Later than the people who pretty much claim they were chilling in the womb listening to the White Album with a pair of tiny Sony headphones. Jon Brion changed my life one Friday night, about 7 years ago at Largo, when he played some wildly gorgeous songs with Elliott Smith. I was too young and naive to even realize what I was witnessing. Fiona Apple is a true original and so self-possessed artistically. Love her. Anyone named Elvis. Stevie Wonder's music makes me want to sing in a gospel choir. He is the human form of joy. Johnny Cash is the closest thing we have to a modern-day American hero and reminds me in some ways of my cowboy grandfather who wears sunglasses and boleros at age 90. Lucinda Williams' songs are so amazingly simple and direct (Essence record and "Sweet Old World") they make me want to take up a drug habit. Just kidding, mom. Bob Dylan is a prophet in black sunglasses. Etta James is my biggest singing influence, God bless her. Rodgers & Hart, Ella Fitzgerald, Joni Mitchell, Rolling Stones, Ron Sexsmith, Donny Hathaway, Nina Simone, Muddy Waters, Shelby Lynne. I'm digging KT Tunstall lately. And of course Charles Bukowski's poetry, so raw and real and gross and delicate. What a beautiful monster he was. Maya Angelou, who makes me want to crawl into sunflower fields to write poetry as sun fades into stardust. "The God of Small Things" tempts me to steal every line for a song. My tall angels who protect me in their white golden light. Dreaming and waking up in that groggy half-awake state, where the air is open and you can grab the little tiny things passing by. Hopefully you'll touch inspiration. Even just for a moment.
Buy "Mantra" on Here! Download my songs to your iPod!
BUY my debut EP "Mantra" from CDBaby here!
Sheri Miller (EPK) "Behind-The-Artist"
The Recording of "Mantra" (Behind-The-Scenes)
“Who is this Sheri Miller character, anyway”, you ask? Good question…read below for the dirt…um…facts on Sheri.
Q: Sometimes you seem to speak with slight traces of a Canadian, Northern Californian and deep Southern accent? Where are you originally from?
A: Actually, I was born and raised right by the beaches of Long Island, New York. So, I’m a full-blooded New Yorker, although my dad is from the deep South in Augusta, Georgia, which is James’ Brown’s hometown. My mom was an amazing opera singer, and growing up she’d sing these beautiful arias all the time, by Italian classical composers I can’t pronounce. My uncle, also is an accomplished recording engineer in LA, and he used to send me in the mail these hand-made mix tapes of Pink Floyd, Hungarian Gypsy Music, Diamanda Galas and Etta James. He also taught me how to illegally sneak in tape recorders to concerts, so I actually have an incredibly muffled version of Nina Simone’s last show in NYC at The Beacon Theater. So, I guess that qualifies me as a partial bad-ass, right? But anyway, I always was composing original songs as a child. We had an ivory-keyed upright brown piano in the den, where I wrote all my “masterpieces” (hahahaha! They were absurd songs actually).
Q: Was there a pivotal moment when you realized you wanted to be an artist and songwriter?
A: Hell, freaking yes! Actually this is a pretty magical, surreal and synchronicity-based story- completely true. And it honestly changed my life in one dramatic swoop! It happened one spring Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, when I was in school at Upenn. I had been writing songs in my tiny room for months, which was a 20-minute walk from the jazz music room, which had all the practice pianos. And I knew I was definitely not writing nearly enough because it was such a huge hassle to walk all those long street blocks downtown. Over the next couple of months, I started dreaming steadily at night, about keyboards, about buying a used keyboard. I clearly remember one Saturday night in particular, I had an extremely vivid dream about this small black, white and gray Casio keyboard. The next morning I woke up with the image of the keyboard still clear in my mind, and took a different more scenic route that day, through an underpass of green trees. So I’m walking, and there’s this one-day church sale, where they had the exact Casio keyboard I had dreamed of the night before. I tested it out with a Nintendo adaptor they had on hand, and it worked, though with a slight buzz! I quickly ran to the ATM, bought the keyboard for $20 and started seriously writing my songs on that sweet, broken-keyed, buzzing Casio from that day on. That one incident, I felt was like a gentle hand pushing me in a direction, like a tiny miracle.
Q: How did you develop your chops as a performing artist in New York?
A: Well, after college I moved back to New York, at first living with my parents for a minute, so I could afford to take private music lessons and not be completely homeless in the process. Then my sexy high school friends asked me to move into a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which served as a haven for free group sex, heroin, mojitos and Magnolia cupcakes for all the neighborhood (just kidding!!) While living there, I made steady rounds at local open mics like The Raven on Avenue C in the East Village, then hosted by Moldy Peaches. I obsessively, and joyfully practiced my acoustic guitar and keyboard for hours in the dank basement hobbit area in the Brooklyn apartment. I immersed myself futher in the poetry of Charles Bukowski, O. Henri, Marcel Proust, Margaret Atwood and Maya Angelou (I was a poetry major in college). I melted into the amazing music of Ella Fitzgerald, The Beatles, classical music, Etta James, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Billie Holiday, The Beach Boys and Bob Dylan. I then moved to Senegal for 2 years, where I learned polyrhythmic drumming from Nairob Walla, and lived solely off mahi fish I caught in nets. Ok, the Senegal part is not exactly true, but I’ve always wanted to say I lived in Senegal…so forgive me!
Q: What venues have you played in around the U.S. and New York and how do you describe your music?
A: Well, I guess I’d say my music is a “sensual soundscape of hypnotic bluesy American soul meets classic British melodic-pop.” Hallelujah! Or people tell me I sound like Sheryl Crow, Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles…so maybe I sound like “Sheryl Apple Dylan Beatle.” I’ve been pretty lucky so far, and I’ve played on the stages of The Bowery Ballroom, Joe's Pub, Hotel Cafe, World Cafe Live, B.B. King's, The Bluebird Cafe, The Canal Room and The Living Room. I also just released my new debut EP, “Mantra” recently and I’m really excited about that.
Q: How can I contact you to send you lavish free gifts and blank checks?
A: Well, you can message me directly here on myspace…I try my best to answer every email! You can also email me at info@sherimiller.com . If you’re short on free swag and blank checks this week, (we all are at times) please don't be shy and write me a comment or message! That would be great! Love you all, my lovelies!
"Most songwriters are lucky to discover their voice, but Sheri Miller has a variety to choose from. She manages to find the edge in even the most conventional emotions -- the flutter of desperation within devotion, the tug of self-doubt within conviction. Her singing conveys those subtleties and hints at deeper ones, all while never compromising the alluring surfaces of her songs. She makes a powerful first impression, and then, even better, a series of more complex and lasting ones."
- Anthony DeCurtis, Contributing Editor, ROLLING STONE
"New York City's best kept singer-songwriter secret."
-Tom Semioli, Amplifier Magazine
“A grown up soulful voice, top quality musicianship, excellent songwriting skills, and emotion destined to draw you in…Written, arranged, and performed superbly…Her energy burns bright for what I hope is a long and artful journey.” (Rating 4 stars)
-Mike Cavanuah, All Access Magazine
"New York singer/songwriter with a fine voice...impressive assemblage of songs, particularly the rock-edged "Waste My Breath" and pretty "The Blade."
-Ken Barnes, USA TODAY
"Sheri Miller delivers what so many only reach for: truly inspired,
deeply personal, authentically original songs, delivered without
pretense in a profound vocal style that transcends her young age.
It's a rare gift to work with an artist of her caliber at the
beginning of her career. Unless my long experience making records has
taught me nothing, Sheri is someone we'll be listening to, and
talking about, for a long, long time."
-Ted Spencer, Independent Engineer/Studio Owner
Credits: Shawn Colvin, Roberta Flack, Janis Ian, Art Garfunkel,
Roseanne Cash
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"I Could Love You Still" new video!
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love
-HH
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Sheri, Hope you are doing great. Hope you had a nice weekend. Great to see you got a show in Philly... Would be so awesome if you could stop by our show this Weds. Maybe you'd like to sing one with us. Enjoy the rest of your day. Look forward to hearing back :) Keep me posted on your shows.
Some people think that love is out of sight, cannot be held on to even if grasped for a moment or if it stays it is bound to leave. None of these things are in fact true. The truth is (thought you would never ask) that love is right where you are in your heart forever never to depart. Feel that love it will always be there for you.
