Dirt Miller is a singer songwriter from Spokane WA. His bio states in part:
Dirt Miller is an American multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who has been entrenched in music his entire life.
With a saga to tell about a life lived hard, and recovery fought for even harder, Dirt’s guitar virtuosity combined with his unique singing style and interpretation of humble melodies and lyrics paint a lush scenario of American soul. His early influences like Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, James Taylor and Led Zeppelin, echo in his songs. Music that comes from pure instinct and deep roots in American folklore and blues history, influenced by the majestic lands of this country and spirituality.
With this bio, I was expecting a lot from Dirt, and I was not disappointed. Dirt does not like to interact and talk with his audience; he lets his music talk for him. One of the things he did share was on his way to Boise, he witnessed a 30-car pileup near Salt Lake City on black ice and survived.
Like a mountain man in dress and appearance, he goes up and down his guitar neck like a mountain goat goes up and down sheer cliffs. His music is like a comfortable dirt road you enjoy being on inside an old friendly pickup truck.
He has a very good powerful vocal range, and uses vocal techniques to sound as different as the song he is performing demands. I heard influences of the Beatles in a chord progression in his song “Sometimes it’s Hard”, about the desperation we all feel from time to time just getting through life. He uses computers and sequencers to make his sound wall bigger than one man. He would play 16 bars, sequence it, then add another 16 bars on top of that, and then play on top of that! Although this made for a huge sound out of one man, at times the effects sometimes distracted from his artistry. To quote a Dire Straits song…yeah, the boy can play!
His artistry is powerful on his song “Kansas City”. It evokes drug fueled desperation of a man only 26 years old. Dealing drugs and living the hard life of crime.
The cold weather didn’t distract from the friendly, fun Treefort experience. I’m sure with the excellent talent on most every stage, if the weather had been better I think every attendance record would have been broken.
