Mike Miz, a troubadour on the Northeast jam scene, moved to Nashville, Tennessee, three years ago to reach a new level in the art of songwriting. His move came after a decade of playing clubs from Asbury Park, NJ and Philadelphia to New York City, performing over 200 shows a year; now the Pennsylvania-raised musician is gearing up to release his album only humans on April 14 via Blackbird.
Before moving to Music City, USA, Miz opened for the likes of Derek Trucks, Jason Isbell, Lukas Nelson, Blues Traveler, Jackie Green, Railroad Earth and more. After settling in, he quickly caught the eye of industry mainstays Ted Pecchio, Laur Joamets, Jon Radford and engineer/producer Brook Sutton, who helped form a band around Miz’s talent.
“In my first year in Nashville, I started putting together a super band in my mind,” Miz said. “I started taking notes on the musicians I would call if I ever recorded an album. I never thought that I would actually make them all play. Fortunately, for me, that’s exactly what happened.”
The artists in question included guitarist Laur Joamets (Sturgill Simpson/Drivin N Cryin), bassist Ted Pecchio (Susan Tedeschi/Colonel Bruce), drummer Jon Radford (Justin Townes Earl/Jonathan Wilson), Jano Rix on organ (Wood Brothers), pianist Michael Borowski (Steve Kimock Band) and more. The resulting collaboration resulted in 11 new songs, all recorded live over three days at Wood Brothers’ West Nashville studio.
Today, we premiere the video for “Six Ways from Sunday”, which also includes additions from Sol Philcox-Littlefield on guitar (Trigger Hippy, Luke Combs) and brass from Leif Shires, Josh Scalf and Chris Bellamy. The rock and roll song was written by Miz and Boo Ray and details the struggles of an active and destructive drug addiction, which the former experienced personally and admits leaned on during his career. Despite the stark look at destroyed relationships and fear of the law, the musical collective seems to lighten the load for Miz, and the live video captures the feeling of improvement on a visceral level.
“Six Ways From Sunday” is the first song I wrote when I moved to Nashville. It’s an autobiographical rocker about some of the events that culminated in me moving south and starting over,” Miz said. relic. “The recording process for this was a real joy, we recorded it live at Wood Brothers Studio in West Nashville, and I was able to get two of my favorite guitarists, Laur Joamets and Sol Littlefield, to lend their sweet chops. . I later met Nashville native session singer/bassist Jarad Reynolds at a show at Dee’s; he agreed to come over and put on some fine vocal harmonies. It’s a true analog production and everything you hear, apart from the vocals and slide guitar, was recorded entirely live in one take.”
Check out the premiere video for “Six Ways from Sunday” below.
