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This guitar burns bridges
Jody Mills' baritone is like a well-brewed extra special bitter, refined in the body but rough around the edges. Some of his songs sound similar to Chris Cornell's work on the legendary Temple of the Dog album. (If you can't remember, that's the record where you can hear Cornell, of Soundgarden, teaching Eddie Vedder, of Pearl Jam, how to sing.)
I don't like comparing voices or bands or singers to each other, (I think it's a cop out) but Mills was out of state and didn't send a phone number this week, so this is pretty much what we've got: he's a baritone, and an aspiring Country-rock Outlaw. He also seems completely sincere when he writes on his web site that his influences include Johnny Cash, Motley Crue, Garth Brooks, David Allan Coe, Skid Row and, “every outlaw Country singer I've ever heard.” Mills also writes he would've been content working construction the rest of his life, “unless I can burn every bridge in town so (music) is all I have left - That's what I need to do.”
And reportedly, chicks dig his voice. They've been known to raise lighters toward the ceiling during his version of Bon Jovi's “Dead or Alive,” which is as delicious a slice of modern cowboy cheese as has ever been cut from the wheel. Mills doesn't care if you call him cheesy, he says, “cause I'm gonna hit you with something that you didn't even realize that you loved ... You'll be singin' at the top of your lungs and you won't even give a shit who sees you. That is what a great song will do to you.”
Mills' web site also includes a download for his song “Queen of Hearts” in which the rough edges of his voice are tempered by its fully-in-tune middle and he sings the genuine outlaw-inspired lyrics, “you're never gonna win with the guy who wrote the rules.”
That may look cheesy on this page, but I'll bet a beer that you'll be singing along when you hear it.
Jody Mills will play guitar and sing at Great Bear Brewing Company (238 Boundary St., 373-4782) in Wasilla on Thursday, December 15 at 9 p.m. and the Long Branch Saloon (1737 E. Dimond Blvd., 349-4142) Monday through Wednesday, December 19 to 21 at 9 p.m.
- Scott Christiansen
- Anchorage press
Discography
Currently in the studio
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Bio
I was born in a old house, in the mountains of the Olympic peninsula in Washington. It was 1976
I am not from a musical family.
We moved around alot when I was a kid....I still move around alot. I rarely live in one place for more than a couple of years. I get restless if my scenery doesn't change often.
Kodiak, Alaska is my hometown. I finished high school there. I finished "growing up" there. That's home.
I played my first show in Kodiak. A guy pulled out a gun at the bar that night....
I've played all over Alaska with some of the best musicians I have ever met. I claim everyone of them as friends. I've played for hundreds of people....and for empty rooms. I've played in Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Texas, Arizona, and Canada.
I didn't start writing my own songs till I was 26.
Love songs irratate me....Most of them just aren't very good
I don't have a record deal....I have to work for a living....I hate working.
People tell me that I need to write faster, more upbeat, songs.....I think that they need to write thier own songs and leave me alone.
I work in Alaska and live in Texas....figure that one out.
I like Guns 'n Roses....and Hank Sr.
It can't be about money....If you play music 'cause you want to be rich and famous then you don't get it and will probably never get it. Don't argue with me on this one.
I once drove 4 hours to a Greg Brown show. The lady I called said it wouldn't be sold out. Apperantly she didn't know who Greg Brown is....it was sold out, I didn't get to see him. I will forever hate that lady.
I absolutely Hate Myspace.....and here is a link to my page there.
I wish people would quit comparing Chris Knight to Steve Earle....It
doesn't even make any sense.
Jumping on the bandwagon pisses me off.....
Hey, Rascal Flatts.....you suck.
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