Blake Mills

Blake Mills is a songwriter and guitarist based in California. As a producer, he is known as one of today's hottest artists, working with famous musicians one after another. His musical career began with Simon Dawes, which he formed in high school with Taylor Goldsmith and others, debuting in 2005 and disbanding in 2007.

As a solo artist, Blake released "Break Mirrors" in 2010. His blend of folk, rock, jazz, blues, and other styles of music, as well as his unique and deep sound-making, has been acclaimed in various fields. His work as a producer for Fiona Apple, John Legend, and other big-name artists began to take off, and his 2015 album "Sound & Color" (Alabama Shakes), which won three Grammy Awards, was his breakthrough production work.

As a guitarist, his sensitive playing has been praised by many musicians, including a call to Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013 in 2013, relatively early in his solo career.

While he has developed a different style from guitar albums such as "Heigh Ho" (2014), his first major album, and "Look" (2018), which is closer to ambient, to "Mutable Set" (2020), which has a songwriter-like color, his live activities include improvisation with Sam Gendell and other musicians.

In 2023, Blake Mills released "Jerry Road," a new approach as a solo artist. This work, created in collaboration with Chris Weissman, a prolific and renowned prodigy, presents an ambient Americana-like soundscape while embodying a greater degree of freedom in his performance.

His production work, co-located with the performers, is also in great form. He has produced a fictional 70's band, Dizzy Jones & Six, which appeared in the Amazon Prime TV drama of the same name, and solo works by Jack Johnson and Marcus Mumford, among others.

In Japan, his performance as Pino Palladino & Blake Mills featuring Sam Gendell & Abe Lounds at last year's "FESTIVAL de FRUE 2022" and Japan Tour remains a vivid memory. The quartet, which took the album "Notes With Attachments" with Pino Palladino, who was also involved as a producer, a step further, was a masterpiece, evolving with each passing day with more and more heat.

This time, the quartet came to Japan as a duo with Dolly Bavalsky, a pianist/composer active in a wide range of classical/popular music. This will be an opportunity to get to know Blake Mills as a guitarist/artist better.

text by Hideki Hayasaka