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Many happy returns of the day!

Recently Heard: Raven in the Snow

Bill Miller - Raven in the Snow

I stumbled across Bill Miller while trying to find out more about Robert Mirabel's other recordings. This happened at a very fortuitous time, with my interest in what I want to play shifting formats from a 13 piece symphonic metal orchestra to an acoustic guitar, quite possibly with vocals, but more or less solo. Now, I don't really want to give the impression that this album consists of Bill and a guitar - it's got that, but usually along with a band. It does, however, have a folksy feel to it, and most of the tunes *could* be performed by a guy with a guitar.

Of course, some of the pieces I like best feature the Native American flute and little to no guitar. Go figure.

The songs vary in style - sometimes evoking more of a Texas blues thing, with distorted guitars, sometimes a bit of a Dylanesque style of writing. It needs to be said that the latter includes absolutely no shade of Dylan's vocal ability, or lack thereof.

Really hard to come up with favorite cuts - I like Brave Heart, Listen to Me, After the Storm and the title track for their lyrics. There are a number of instrumentals, including three parts of In Every Corner of the Forest scattered amongst the other tracks. Although the lyrics might - or should - reveal Bill's heritage, these instrumentals dig deeper into the mix of traditional Native American musical elements.

I suppose if I had to pick one favorite, I'd pick two tracks that are back to back and quite dissimilar. The Final Word, which might be something Hendrix would record, if Jimi had made occasional use of loops of a horn section and other effects, as he sang about a people who stole the land and will pay for their evil ways. The other, Eagle Must Fly Free has an olde-tyme bluesy feel, with bottleneck slide guitar, harmonica, and a banjo-mando in prominence. If you really twisted my arm, this 12-bar blues tune would take the top spot. If I ever felt I could handle the vocals (as in: not scare people away; as a blues piece, they're not especially vocally challenging, but they just work perfectly), I would do this song. Well, if I could find someone to play harp on it. Could do with or without the piano, snare, or even the banjo-mandolin, and you could fake it decently (if you had to) with one guitar instead of two, but without the harmonica it just wouldn't sing the same.