Although he’d probably tell you a great story of touring rather than rock your face off, Chris Milam is definitely the guy for overt romanticism in all things tangible.
Milam’s love for our fair city was created through the tried and true package of a singer and his six-string and manifested in his most recent release the Young Avenue EP. Tonight, he’ll be dishing out a fresh serving of the EP at the launch show at The Hi-Tone Cafe.
The singer/songwriter started his musical journey in Memphis but has spent extended stays in locales that are heavy on music culture. From Nashville up to New York, this travelling salesman of the heart has covered the country spreading his endearing and heartfelt perspective on what love and life are, and what they ought to be, since 2004. His most recent effort is an adventure into introversion, a new undertaking for the pop crooner.
Milam elaborates,
As my career’s gone on, my songs get more and more personal. When I started out, I had a hard time talking about myself. My first impulse was to write about someone else, tell someone else’s story. It was a fear of rejection; I assumed if I wrote from my heart and folks didn’t like the song, then they also didn’t like me. My story hit too close to home. But this record is close to home—literally and figuratively. It’s about home. It’s about Memphis as a place to grow up, a place to leave, and a place to come home to. It’s by far the most autobiographical record I’ve done. For better or worse, it’s me. And it’s funny: playing these songs out, I’ve found those fears were unfounded. It seems like the more you share with the audience, the more they embrace you. It’s exciting.
Tonight marks the release of his most recent EP, a full excursion into Chris’s warm compositions and hearty sentiments towards the bluff city.
Memphis in late summer, early fall. Growing up here, out in the suburbs, it’s a very evocative time and place. Those are some of my strongest—and fondest—memories. I still drive aimlessly out there when I need to clear my head and feel reconnected to something. I’ll put on old ’90s staples: R.E.M., Gin Blossoms, a thousand others, and it puts me at ease. So, it’s really a combination of then and now. The record’s heart lives then: adolescence, riding around the suburbs listening to 96X, rolling someone’s house, nightswimming, thinking about a girl, getting frozen custard, etc. But its perspective lives now: moving away, becoming a singer/songwriter, touring 100+ days a year, finding new paths and new relationships, then coming back home. The whole record asks that question: can you go home again? I think I’m still trying to answer that, haha.
Milam won’t perform alone. The talented 90’s throwback alt-rock of The Near Reaches will also be featured. J.D. Reager, Jason Pulley, Jack Alberson, and Eric Wilson recently released the Near Reaches self-titled debut that boasts great music worth showing up for and thusly purchasing on vinyl!
Not only will the Near Reaches play, but you’ll also get a great performance from the Al Gamble/Mark Edgar Stuart/Kait Lawson trio. The trio of musicians garner comparable yet incredibly varied sounds, making sure your night will be full of guitarry bliss and good stories through gorgeous songs and fantastic musicianship.
Doors open at 9pm, $5, 18+
