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I am a singer/songwriter/guitarist, and a full time professional musician. I take song requests! *
I record live loops to create a full band sound which underscores my singing and guitar work. At a party I will rock. At a quiet dinner I craft sound subtly. I put my whole soul, into each performance whether it is for three people or for 300.
I am author of the book, “How to Improvise on the Guitar with Scales and Modes, The Son of Brad Method”. (See https://howtoimproviseontheguitar.com)The music at this website http://sonofbrad.com is all original. But when I perform live, it’s all about taking song requests!
At live engagements I perform hundreds of covers from every decade, from the hits of the 1950s, all the way up to current, peppering in original songs.
I utilize the guitar with a vocabulary honed by decades of study, discipline, and professional experience .
I explore scales, chords, harmony and rhythm in new ways every night, composing new arrangements live, much like a traditional jazz musician.. ..much like my father Brad Mills before me. He was a jazz musician who performed as a Union performer with Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Harry James, Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson and other great jazz musicians. Later he travelled touring churches as a jazz musician and preacher.
Anyway back to my music....I take song/artist/band requests!
I taught guitar and performed locally in Cda/Spokane from 1994-2002, leading worship in churches, studying music at North Idaho College under Gerard Mathis and Classical guitar under Dr. Paul Grove. I studied as a self taught guitarist many years but also had other mentors like Pianist Gary Hemenway, Blues/Americana guitarist Pat Coast and former Carlos Santana and Ray Charles bassist Thom Rutley. I performed in a trio with Rutley called the Lake City Rythm and News which featured Rutley and his wife Padma Rutley, who sang with Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks”. During this time I was also enjoying the afterglow of the northwest grunge scene in Seattle and its affect on the Inland Northwest by frequently opening for bands Local emo bands like Champion Birdwatchers.
In 2002 I produced my debut album Rebel Alliance, with Dave Richards and Paul Turpin of Click PoP records (and co-producers of the Warner Bros band Idiot Pilot).
I recorded "You Can't Find Your Way Back" under my birth name Daniel Mills, and toured off it for 2 years during which time I once got to meet Dave Matthews (and join him for a bite at The Long shoreman's daughter in Seattle) and frequently opened for Tim Snider of Nahko and Medicine for the People, and Trevor Hall, and (Tim Snider music) in Reno. I worked at CD Baby from 2005-2009 where I enjoyed meeting and performing with some notable musicians such as, Craig Montoya from Everclear, Ben Barnett of The Thermals, Sean Croghan of Crackerbash/Elliot Smith, Andy Sheldon of the Samples and Mike Squires of Ugly Kid Joe .
I once opened for Alex De Grassi in Chehalis, Washington while I was living in Portland (working at a Starbucks), and after my set we were talking back stage and he asked me, "what was that thing you were doing with your right hand"?. I told him and showed him the technique. He smiled and nodded. At that time I didn't realize that he was paying me one of the highest compliments of my career.
In 2007-2010 I worked through a disabling injury that temporarily halted my music career but I returned to music full time in 2010. Since then I have recorded a full length album, "Evergreen", which has received great reviews from The Inlander and 95.3 KPND, and is my most mature recorded work to date. I have sold out the Kroc Center twice as well as the Big Dipper, and also O'Shays back yard theater with my full band. I currently performs 100 nights a year, was the resident guitar instructor at Burt's Music in Cda, for 6 years. I now owned Coeur d’Alene guitar instruction, LLC and teach independently. I owned and operated Inland Talent, LLC for 9 years which company managed the entertainment at around a dozen venues regionally, and provided work for dozens of local musicians. I walked away from that to focus primarily on performing and teaching in 2024.
Some of the venues that Son of Brad currently performs for are The Osprey Lounge at the Ruby River Hotel, The Coeurdalene Resort, Chalice Brewing, Parallel 47, Arborcrest, Silver Mountain, DryFly Distilling, Gozzer Ranch, Albertinis, Mulligans. More notable artists I’ve been blessed to open for as of 2023 is Brad Corrigan of Dispatch, and Christian rock icon Jon Micah Sumrall, of Kutless, joining Jonathan Arthur on lead guitar in December 2023.
TO SEE MY PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE GO TO THE LIVE SHOW CALENDAR LINK ABOVE
(or copy and paste this to your browser : https://sonofbrad.com/live-show-calendar)
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