So, What Is This Embers Thing, Larry?

So: A loooooooong time ago, I started playing guitar.  Like 38 years ago.  That led to a lifetime of musical experiences, pursuits, studies, collaborations, bands, joys, sorrows, near-misses, etc.  On a graph of my musical activity over time, you’d see periods of intense activity, followed by sloping dips and troughs of inactivity.  Certainly over the last 10-15 years, the upward spikes would be far overshadowed by the dips and troughs.  Behind the simple lines on the graph, my life’s path and my own decisions provide context for the ups and downs.  Things like:  

• Starting a band in Iowa in 1997, gigging and recording through late 1999.
• Focusing more and more on my day job/career and getting an MBA at night during the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
• Writing and occasionally performing with my friend Sean Fredericks.
• Having a child!  
• Raising that child (a work in progress)!  
• Occasionally contributing long-distance guitar tracks for my friend Tobias Gebb’s original songs. 
• Training and studying Ving Tsun Kung Fu avidly over the past 15 years or so.
• Moving to a new house and finally upgrading my recording set-up after 10+ years

And the list goes on.  I’m not unique; we all have our lists.  Our lists morph over time, as do the percentages of time we spend on each item on the list.  At this point in my life, I’ve been feeling the urge to create and record music more and more strongly again.  The decision to actually do something about it is what led to the idea of “Embers”.  I knew I wanted to share my music, but I wasn’t sure how to “brand” it or what to call it.  Sure, I could have just went with “Larry Miller Music”, which would have been fine.  However, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, Embers has a specific significance that ties to the ebbs and flows I’ve been describing.  When a fire is lit, after time the remaining embers can either be left to burn out, or they can be fanned and more kindling can be added to restart the flames.  That’s kind of where things have been for me, creatively-speaking.  It’s not that my musical life would have ceased to exist if I didn’t do this, but it certainly wasn’t being fed to my personal satisfaction.  Embers is my answer to that.  I consider it a “project”, an umbrella under which I can group the songs I’ll be writing and recording moving forward.  My goals are very simple: to keep creating and sharing my music, and to get feedback so I can continue to improve my craft.  That’s it.  Anything else is gravy.  I’d welcome the chance to convert this into live performance, to do more collaborating with other artists, etc.  We’ll see what happens.  In the meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the music, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to express myself.  Thank you for listening!