WHO IS BLUE MILLER?? A native of Detroit, Blue played in the pop group Julia and performed and recorded with Bob Seger before recording three solo albums and creating Emmy-winning music for various television documentaries. After moving to Nashville, Miller enjoyed session work with Albert King, Mel McDaniel, Peabo Bryson and Isaac Hayes, got cuts on Englebert Humperdinck, David Ruffin, and Gladys Knight, and contributed to film soundtracks. With Dave Gibson, he formed the Gibson-Miller Band, which won honors from the Academy of Country Music as Best New Vocal Group; their two albums, Where’s There Smoke and Red, White & Blue Collar, yielded seven Top 20 singles, including the BMI Million-Air, High Rollin.
Among Miller’s recent projects is his collaboration with India.Arie, writing, producing and performing on her critically-acclaimed albums Acoustic Soul (seven Grammy nominations) and Voyage To India (Best R&B album Grammy). During the reception Warner/Chappell executives presented Miller with a gold plaque for Voyage To India and a platinum disc for Acoustic Soul.
The last time Marshall and I saw Blue Miller was when we drove down to Nashville this fall and asked Blue if he would be interested in laying down some guitar tracks for an album Real II Reel is co-producing with Matt Wilder (Founder of the School Of Rock) for 12 year old triplet boys we discovered in Chicago at Launch, who’s harmonies are unbelievable. Blue accepted! When we told him we were recording at the “The Castle” that seemed to be a perfect place since he lives in the area. We were excited to hear he accepted our invitation!!
I remember what a beautiful cool, breezy sunny day it was at the Castle. I’ll never forget how nervous and excited I was going in to this huge recording studio that had so much history. It once served as a rest stop and hideout for one of the Roaring Twenties’ most notorious figures, Al Capone. Since that time, the Castle has served as a bootlegging site, a gambling house, and even an upscale restaurant. But, to this day, rumors and legends of escape tunnels and “unofficial” graves still surround the stone edifice.
When Marshall and I walked in the Castle we were met by the triplets and their parents, Matt and so many well known Nashville Studio musicians, like Lonnie Wilson (well known studio drummer, he’s played on over 400 hit radio singles).
Then there was Blue Miller. My first impression of Blue was I immediately felt like I knew him all my life. I felt an instant connection. Marshall had corresponded with him on several occasions through e-mail so we were very excited to finally get the chance to meet him. We have admired his work for years. Meeting Blue was the highlight of our trip to Nashville and of course we enjoyed getting to know the triplets and their beautiful family while we were there. Blue was so down to earth, sweet and full of smiles, he even let me sneak in (while he was recording) to watch him lay the guitar tracks for the triplets album. I was stoked!
Stole a few great camera shots for the website. Before he left for the day he told us he had a gig later that evening and would love it if we could come out to see the show. I had to calm myself down before I answered, otherwise it would of came out YES!! YES!! YES!! WOULD LOVE TO!! So I calmly answered “we would love to” if we finish recording in time. We all hugged him goodby and he was off on his way. We did end up making it out that night to see him play with one of the bands he produces “Skylar”. Blue and the band were fantastic!! I even danced a little, doesn’t take much for me when you hear some great Rhythm guitar! At the End of one of their sets Blue dedicated “Turn The Page” Bob Seger to us (Rea lI IReel) and sung it like I have never heard it before, with so much passion. All I know is everyone at our table was smiling!! I was definitely on “cloud 9” Never wanted that night to end! Thank you Blue!
After we left that week, we hoped we get a chance very soon to see Blue again, we even sent him delicious chocolates and a “Blue” snark and thanked him for coming out to “The Castle” that day. Recently Real II Reel went down again to Nashville to do some “mixing” on Drew Machak’s album. Real II Reels’s emerging artist. This time we reserved some recording time at the beautiful “Sound Kitchen” located in Franklin, TN. There at the sound Kitchen in studio B were an entourage of producers that we asked to put their “fingerprint” on Drew’s project, including Nick Trevisick. I couldn’t help but think how great it would be to see Blue Miller and remembered I had his number in my phone, so I texted him to let him know we all were at the Sound Kitchen and if he had a chance to get away we would love to see him again. I never got a answer back from him that afternoon and thought maybe he was to busy. Keep in mind no one knew I texted Blue. I got a phone call from a friend of mine Brandon Calhoon who originally lived in Michigan and now resides in Nashville. I invited Brandon to come out to the studio so we could catch up and a couple hours later Brandon stopped by. After I introduced Brandon to everyone and were sitting there talking, then Blue walks in the room and surprised everyone. It was great!! I looked down at my phone to see if I had missed a text from him and I did. I couldn’t believe it. I felt so bad. Everyone was very happy to see Blue and I was excited to have the chance to introduce him to Drew, Nick, and my good friend Brandon Calhoon. Blue if you read this, WE LOVE YA!! Thanks for stopping by, so glad you did it meant a lot to us. Good luck with all your future projects!
More pics to come, so please check back! Thanks for your interest in Real II Reel, we appreciate it!
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