Reggie Miles...
Songwriter, Singer, Storyteller, Slide Guitarist and Sawplayer
Turns trash into musical treasure, his own homemade Nobro resophonic guitars, constructed from repurposed junk culled from garage sales, swap meets, thrift stores...
Earthy vocals, Delta style bottleneck slidin' and the rhythmic moans of harmonica combine, while foot stompin' abounds, to create an Acoustic Roots Blues sound as authentic as you'll hear north of the Mason Dixon Line.
An aficionado of storytelling, tall tales are intricately woven effortlessly into the fabric of music and songs
A Folk/Blues fingerpicker of whimsical found and self-penned songs
A virtuoso in the musical folk art of bowed hand saw melodies.
An award winning songwriter, recording and performance artist who has gained multinational media attention via recent compositions like, "Wall Street Bailout Blues".
Featured in a half dozen documentary film and video projects, on the recordings of more than a dozen Northwest artists, in addition to 21 self produced recordings since 1995.
What others are saying about Reggie Miles...
"Channeled Bukka White, Furry Lewis, Robert Johnson, Ken Kesey, and Salvadore Dali." (Brian G)
"Traditional bluesie - brilliant... A mixture of Bluesey, jazzy, juggy, eclectic stuff... Solid" (Rick Fielding)
"Shel Silverstein meets Leonard Cohen" (Anon)
"Country blues with a novelty twist....a down home gravely voice and a driving slide guitar." (Chris Lunn, Victory Music Review)
"I've been to LA. I've been to New York. I've been to San Francisco, Chicago, Memphis, Kansas City and New Orleans and I have never heard anybody like you!" (Anon)
"Tom Waits meets Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Great music!" (Chris)
"Reggie Miles in my humble opinion is great! It just does not get any better than this. What a talent! Oh, and by the way, I love the sound of that 'resonator guitar' he uses!" (Ron Ryan, Ghost writer for The Dave Clark Five)
"One part Sonny Terry, one part Tiny Tim, three parts Mister T" (Amos Jessup)
"Extremely entertaining and downright fun! Wonderfully wacky... Reggie Miles has succeeded in capturing the vaudevillian essence of depression era blues. Amazingly eerie, bizarre, interpretations featuring Reggie playing a saw." (Diane Wells)
I am originally from the gritty inner city of Chicago's south side but for the last 30 years or so, I've been living and performing in and around the upper left corner of the country (The Greater Pacific Northwest region). Occasionally, I take jogs about the rest of the lower 48 and beyond.
Yes, I play live. My performances have included events across the country but mostly in and around the Pacific Northwest. I enjoy entertaining more than I can easily express. There are an endless number of special moments that I could describe. Perhaps they might be better left for a more in depth recollection.
Every performance can hold magical moments when the energy created by the performance artist and that of the listening audience combine to produce results beyond expectation. The lives of both the artist and audience can and do change in the process.
I've been most influenced by early blues, jugband, jazz, ragtime, folk, and hillbilly artists.
My instruments include my homemade Nobro resophonic guitar. I made it from junk that I found at garage sales. A brass door kick plate, piano soundboard, record player parts, vegetable steamer, baseball bat and a table leg are among the items used in its construction.
I play a number of other venerable, six string, garage sale and swap meet finds as well.
In addition, I flex the 213 razor sharp spring steel teeth of a 30" Mussehl and Westphal baritone musical saw betwixt my knees. The pointy parts are mere millimeters away from body parts I hold both near and dear as I attempt to tame the unruly blade.
I blow rack mounted mouth harp along with my guitar, and also have a rack attached to my 1929 Maytag Special Custom Dixie Delta Deluxe Eldorado Rhythm Board (my washboard/sound effects gizmo) so I can play harp while scratchin' and scrubbin' mojo pre-cussion on the darn ol' thang.
When flexing the razor sharp spring steel teeth of a saw blade betwixt your knees it's always a good idea to remember that many body parts don't grow back.
