Before his freshman year of high school, Jeff Miller decided to sell all of his video games and buy his first guitar. Soon after, songwriting became a passion. He formed a band with two other friends in the Pittsburgh suburb where he grew up. They recorded an album and played numerous shows together.
After high school, Miller was off to Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where he studied Guitar Performance and Songwriting. His plan was to find compatible musicians, and to form another band. That never happened.
A degree from Berklee, a move back home to Pittsburgh, a move to Nashville, and 3 solo albums (and an EP) later, Jeff Miller is still playing music. In fact, he plays over 150 shows a year, touring the east coast and the midwest. His music has received airplay at over 175 stations, in the U.S. and abroad.
His latest effort, Seesaw, was co-produced by Matt Mangano (Darrell Scott, John Mayer, Dave Barnes), who also played bass on the album. It also features Nick Buda (Edwin McCain, Mindy Smith) on drums and percussion. The Pittsburgh Tribune raves, “Miller’s music is timeless. The songs on Seesaw are infectious delights.”
Miller still hasn’t found a regular band. But that’s fine with him and his listeners. At his live shows, he uses a device to record and loop guitar and vocal parts, creating more sound than many bands do. Using his voice, guitar, hands and feet, he is able to act as each member of a regular band – a singer, guitarist, bassist, even a drummer. You really should see/hear it for yourself.
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If you just can't get enough of other people's comments, read on....
"Guitar virtuoso... Listening to Miller's CDs [or songs] on itunes is one thing, but seeing him live is another. During his one and a half hour playing time at North, his passion never died down."
"A total master of the loop/sampling pedal."
"Jeff Miller comes to Nashville by way of Pittsburgh. He comes packing three excellent albums. Each has Jeff's own distinctive brand of acoustic pop/rock - with great hooks and songwriting sensibilities. Jeff has been slowly but surely gaining in National popularity - he recently performed on Fox in the Morning, Lightning 100 featured his song 'Scars' on the Local Lightning Spotlight, and he's received airplay at over 175 stations in the US and abroad. Jeff is an independent artist at the moment, though I suspect he will be picked up soon. He's released three great albums, he's touring, has a large fan base, is getting TV and copious amounts of radio play on his own, and is working on going into the European market. Come to think of it, he may not need or want a label. But that leaves good management and tour representation wide open."
"He's got my vote as one of Nashville's best yet least-rewarded artists."
"Great guitar tone and songwriting."
"His music is timeless. Like other notable purveyors of pop, such as Todd Rundgren, Badfinger or Ben Folds, Miller isn't afraid to embrace and wield melody as a musical weapon. But instead of doing damage, the songs on "Seesaw" are infectious delights, from the Abbey Road-fueled 'Scars' to the sunny-side sound of 'Can't Take it With You' and its contrasting lyrical sentiment. Miller even shows a new, heavier side in 'The World is Out to Get You,' arguably the album's best track."
"Jeff's show was outstanding, and I felt I came away a better guitar player just from watching him."
"Miller, who played the Cat on Saturday, embodied rock in a very non-conformist, almost Oberlinian manner. Although one of his songs was ironically titled 'Trying to be Cool', Miller made no such attempt. . . . Best described as John Mayer minus the goofy facial expressions, his music is pop rock and upbeat . . . The show centered on Miller's impressive guitar skills; he used a Boomerang device to record and loop different guitar and vocal patterns, allowing him to create multi-layered songs with much more interest than one simple melody or chord structure."
"Guitarist Jeff Miller...has a more technical approach. He studied guitar performance at Berklee College of Music and has a dynamic acoustic style reminiscent of Steve Tibbetts and Phil Keaggy."
"Jeff Miller's debut album, 'Trying to Be Cool,' was a minor pop tour-de-force, an updated version of Todd Rundgren's "Something Anything," with the Upper St. Clair resident playing all instruments save drums. His encore effort takes an opposite tack. 'Something Different' is literally that, as Miller strips away the studio gimmickry for his second release. Recorded live in the studio, the 17 acoustic songs recall artists as diverse as Joseph Arthur and James Keelaghan, with a bit of Michael Hedges' intricate guitar work."
"It takes guts to name check a real person in a break-up song. But there, in the second verse of 'Trying to Be Cool,' Jeff Miller sings to the gal who dumped him: 'And to my surprise/ you're there with Mike Grimes/ How quickly he's taken my place.' Lest you think Grimes is a made-up antagonist, he's also thanked in the liner notes. All this wouldn't mean bupkis if Miller didn't deliver the song convincingly in an achy Alex Chilton-esque voice. The song serves as the title track and centerpiece of the solo disc by Miller, who also play[ed] lead guitar in the Dave Pahanish Band. A graduate of the Berklee School of Music, he handles everything except drums, which includes violin, mandolin and keyboards, along with a strong voice and good ear for arrangements. The results make an impressive debut album."
"[On his debut Miller] sings and plays guitar, bass, keyboards, mandolin, percussion and violin. . . . It's an impressive effort from a kid - Miller's just 23 - who doesn't seem to realize he's recalibrating the pop music of artists such as Todd Rundgren or Marshall Crenshaw for the new millenium. There's an ingratiating innocence to songs such as "Careless Words" and "Friday Night" balanced by the rock of "Finger on the Pulse" and "You Can't Fool Me (with that smile)," a bluesy shuffle."
"Echoing the Paul McCartney video to 'Coming Up,' Jeff Miller is pictured playing every instrument but drums inside the CD booklet to his debut effort, 'Trying to Be Cool.' And like McCartney, the songwriter actually played those instruments -- and more, including violin -- on the record, accompanied only by the drummer from his high school trio, Jimmy Cramer, who also co-produced the record in his studio."