Only Human
Blackbird, 2023
8/10
An artist who has spent much time in the Northeast jam scene, Mike Miz brings his guitar prowess to these 10 adventurous tunes that welcome some of Nashville’s finest.
The listen gets off to an energetic start, with Jon Radford’s thumping drums and Michael Borowski’s agile keys alongside Miz’s smooth pipes and soaring guitar in the country rocker “Hand Of The Sculptor”, and “Only Human” follows with some soulfulness thanks to Sadler Vaden’s guitar solo and Ted Pecchio’s well timed bass.
“Understand” lands at the halfway point, and emits a warm intimacy that showcases Miz’s poetic pipes and folk friendly ideas in the acoustic ballad, while “Wander Blue” showcases C.J. Colandrea’s sublime steel guitar amid the graceful keys and rugged yet tuneful singing that might remind you of Neil Young.
Residing near the end, the cozy Americana of “You Make Me Feel” comes with plenty of emotion and grit alongside the collaborative keys from Borowski and Jano Rix, and “Tail Lights” exits with swift and wild honky tonk fun that’s infectious and just so much fun.
An album that was recorded live to tape, it tells the story of being addicted to heroin for 15 years, which is autobiographical. Miz’s very animated guitar playing is front and center, and the subtle but effective strings and brass present, not to mention the large cast of players, make for a varied, thoughtful and substantial listen.
Travels well with: Ben De La Cour- Shadow Land; Trapper Schoepp- Siren Songs