Folk Notes | Stories

Legendary Folksinger and Storyteller Adam Miller performs

November 13, 2019

An artist whose kind has dwindled to an endangered species, Adam Miller is a renowned old-school American troubadour and a natural-born storyteller. One of the premier autoharpists in the world,he is an accomplished folklorist, song-collector, and raconteur, who has amassed a remarkable repertoire of more than 5,000 songs. With his resonant baritone voice and easy audience rapport, Miller is a masterful entertainer who never fails to get his audience singing along.

Engaging and Entertaining Folk Troubadour

Skillfully interweaving folksongs and the stories behind them with the elegance of a documentary filmmaker, Adam Miller is recognized as one of the great interpreters of American folksongs and as a storyteller par excellence. And he is that rare performer who appeals to audiences of all ages.

Traveling 70,000 miles a year, Miller performs over 200 concerts annually in 48 states, from the Everglades to the Arctic Circle. More than 1.5 million students have attended his Singing Through History! assembly programs. He has performed live in over 2,000 American public libraries.

 Keeper of the Flame of Endangered American Traditions

  • The Ketchikan, Alaska Sitnews called his show, “Impressively educational but also alluringly entertaining — delighting both young and old alike. His energizing performance brought history alive, as he skillfully grabbed the audience’s attention and transported them with song and laughter through 400 years of history.”
  • A reviewer in Melbourne Beach, Florida, said that Adam Miller’s presentation is “even more accessible than most good folk music. His stories are not the boring ‘once-upon-a-time’ kind, but rather keep you in a constant state of suspense, and his gentle, building guitar chords heighten it. It’s all about how folk music lives on through oral tradition and has a kind of ‘betcha didn’t know you’ve done it too!’ kind of theme. It will charm even the most die-hard of iPod loving kids or reluctant significant-others.”
  • The Tennessean said that it was “Exceptionally inspiring to witness this true master of eclectic art forms and keeper of the flame of endangered American traditions.”
  • George Winston calls Miller “one of the great autoharpists and folksingers of our times.”
  • Pete Seeger admired his “wonderful storytelling!”
  • The Syracuse News Times said his performance was “mesmerizing.”
  • NPR called him “a master of the autoharp.
  • The Grand Traverse Insider called him, “A National Treasure!”
  • A reviewer at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas wrote, “Adam Miller holds his audience spellbound without a lot of trappings. It’s just him, his autoharp and guitar, and his signature Panama hat.”
  • Keith Anglemyer, Master of Ceremonies at the Walnut Valley Festival said of Miller’s performance, “An outstanding slice of American folk songs performed with his perfectly suited voice and tasty autoharp accompaniment … thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish… Between these ears are more songs than any of us have ever heard!”

 Folksongs Travel Through History

 Adam Miller began his lifelong pursuit of collecting old songs while still in grade school. Armed with an audio-graphic memory and a kaleidoscopic musical curiosity, his childhood ambition was to learn every song he heard.

 Today, with a repertoire of thousands of tunes, his traditional folksongs and ballads are the songs of America’s heritage: a window into the soul of our nation in its youth. A performer who enlightens as well as entertains, he points out fascinating connections between events in history and the songs that survived them.

And like radio commentator Paul Harvey, Miller gives you “the rest of the story” — providing the often surprising provenance of seemingly simple folk songs.

In a contemporary musical landscape peopled with singer-songwriters and their often short-lived offerings, Miller’s iconic time-honored traditional ballads and folk songs are a breath of fresh air. They evoke a bygone era when most music was homemade.

Adam Miller explains it this way, “Folksongs travel through History. History travels through Folksongs.”

Adam Miller’s website is: Folksinging.org

 

 

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