Best Young Guitarists 40ish and Under: Blake Mills
Age: 36
Bands: Blake Mills, Pino Palladino & Blake Mills
Essential Album: Notes with Attachments by Pino Palladino & Blake Mills
I heard Break Mirrors, his debut album, and I was blown away by the songwriting. Each song was so strange and unique and brilliant. But I had no idea he was a virtuoso guitar player because he plays with such subtlety and restraint. Then, I watched the Sound and Vision documentary, Who is Blake Mills? And I just couldn’t believe the fluidity of his playing and the ease of his melodies. And his slide guitar is heartbreaking. When he plays, his fingers do impossible things, and he plays chords and lines that look and sound like nothing I've ever heard before. He is a legitimate guitar prodigy, but he also plays with astonishing restraint so that there is something haunted about his playing.
Then, just a few years ago, he came out with a jazz record with Pino Palladino, a renowned bassist, and you see another layer of his musical genius. And then, he produced the soundtrack for Daisy Jones and the Six, which is just remarkable. Listening to that soundtrack is like opening a time capsule to find the very best songs from the mid 1970's. Now, I don't think he plays the guitar on those recordings, but I have no doubt that most of the guitar lines on the record come from his wizard-y mind. Perhaps the most impressive thing is he had to write those catch-y and gorgeous guitar lines while also keeping them simple enough for an actor to play them. I’m convinced that Blake Mills is one of the finest musicians of our time.
HERE is the Sound and VIsion documentary about him.
HERE is the Tiny Dest Concert he did with Pino Palladino
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