Kenny James Miller Band | Revelator

Published: October 6, 2010

The Blue Onion Band’s long-time, left-handed guitarist and singer, Kalispell’s Ken Sederdahl, says his new band was formed by accident when he needed great musicians to fill in for Blue Onion at some dates. So he got together with drummer Mark Miller, of Big Daddy and the Blue Notes, and bassist Jimmy Groom, from the Atomic Blues Band, to form this cleverly named trio, which plays regularly throughout the Flathead Valley.

These purveyors of blistering R&B-tinged blues deliver a soulful compilation of tunes on their first release, Revelator. Fueled by massive guitar chords and the wailing dirty sound of a fuzzed-out Fender Stratocaster, scintillating traps, and throbbing bass bottom, the trio powers through 12 tunes (10 written by Sederdahl) with abandon.

Moody rockin’ blues abound, starting with “Bone Bottom.” That’s followed by the cool, wiggly, and hypnotic repeating riffs of the “The Revelator,” based on an old gospel call-and-response, originally recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1930.

There’s the gritty “Border Line,” and a belt-buckle shiner with lots of slow and jazzy chords and sweet leads, called “Gracie.” Smokin’ drums open the up-tempo slapper, “Nashville Tele,” and “Check Out Time” is a shoulder-shaker, about how possessions don’t mean much when it’s time to leave this world. Or, as an old friend used to say, “There aren’t any pockets in a shroud.”

There’s some country blues (“Move on Down the Line”) and lots of prayer-inflected references, including Sederdahl’s take on “Troubled Soul” by Cliff Purcell, as befitting an album titled Revelator. Sederdahl has a great gravelly voice; add in the emotionally charged, white-hot pickin,’ and I think I’m saved.

The album was recorded live over two days by Mark Miller at Astra West Studio in Kalispell. Visit the band at www.kennyjamesmiller.com.

– Mariss McTucker