Wednesday, January 29, 2014

One Artist, Two Venues


Redding’s Cultural Cruise 2014 is coming up this Friday, and multi-talented artist Will Miller will be wearing two hats -- doing his best to be at two places at once.



Will Miller, the singer-songwriter, will be playing a half-hour set of original music at Redding City Hall at 4:30 as part of the North State Songwriters Showcase. Then he’ll high-tail it across town to the Carter House, where his painting, Paradise, is up for a prize in the North Valley Art League Annual National Juried Show.



I asked Will about the challenges of being both a songwriter and a visual artist.

“My passion for creativity is a driving force, and when engaged is an unstoppable flow that just spills all over the place (sometimes hard to contain and always a mess)…..Painting and songwriting both have different disciplines, rules, and skills to hone.  


On the songwriter side of the house, when flows of emotional things happen in my life I write down notes to remind my self of how I felt, or a funny thing that happened, then later when I hear music pieces that touch my soul, then I search thru my notes and write my songs using the notes as reference…
In painting, it is a discipline of color and light matching, a drill that encompasses every brush stroke… I study my compositions and relive every inch as I paint.
        
Whatever skill sets I have acquired with songwriting and painting I owe all to my intense focus, self-discipline, love of seeing smiles and passion for creating things.
”

What are you looking forward to at this year’s Cultural Cruise?

“Smiles and a little toe tapping… to bring a thought of joy or happiness with my creations, whether musical or artistic to the world is what floats my boat…  of course winning best of show at the league show would definitely make my year.”

In addition to being an artist, Will is a veteran, father of five and grandfather to nine. He’s  currently college art student,  Cottonwood resident and fine arts advocate.

The Cultural Cruise is a city-wide event for the whole family -- the map of venues is here:




Monday, January 27, 2014

North State Songwriters Showcase


North State Songwriters will Showcase original music at Redding's City Hall as part of the annual city-wide Cultural Cruise.

The event will get underway at 4 PM and feature local music, art and complimentary refreshments.

The performers for the North State Songwriters Showcase will be:


4:00
 Matthew Songmaker and the Mountain Messengers

Traditional American music from bluegrass to fiddle and country.














4:30 William Miller


Local Indie Folk and Country Singer, Songwriter, and Acoustic Guitarist.















5:00 Still Married

Original acoustic tunes celebrating 
the landscape, the characters and the independent spirit of Far Northern California






















5:30 Nick Ciampi

Sixties-influenced

folk-rock with an always-evolving feel























6:10 Jackie Lynn Brodersen




Tunes inspired by the folk music of the 60s and 70s















6:30 Jeff Coleman


High-Energy Mountain Music inspired by the mountains of Jefferson, Southern Cascades & Northern Sierra  Sierra Nevada









7:00 Samantha Meyer



  A country girl at heart,  her music mainly reflects her passion for the little, yet important things in life.













7:30 The Pine Dogz

A little bit country a little bit R and B and a lot of heart and soul.















There are activities scheduled all over Redding -- check out the map and plan an artful evening right here in Shasta County.

Here's the map:


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Hometown Gig

Come on down to the Cottonwood Community Center on Saturday, January 18th, for the 2nd Annual Cottonwood Art Wine and Music Festival.  We'll be serving up local tunes, along with several of our songwriting friends - The Pine Dogz, Jonathan Foster and Will Miller.

The art show starts at noon - lunch is available until 3. Wine tasting and music begin at 4. The music and art are free to enjoy; $15 for tasting local wines.

We'll be playing tunes from our Whiskeytown Roadhouse album -- and this one, that celebrates everything we love about our hometown: