Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ted Miller And Alice Miller. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Ted Miller and Alice Miller, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Taking a risk…we think the best place to dig into this topic would going back to where it all started for us. Making that initial decision to invest in ourselves was a huge risk in and of itself. There was the monetary risk of taking out a loan to record our very first album, but there was also a risk emotionally. It’s a very vulnerable place to be. We not only worried about if we were making the right decision to go in debt so that we could share our music, but we also worried about how our music would be received. As artists, we realized we needed support and acceptance to recoup our costs and hopefully even make enough to be able to do the whole process again. That means our stories needed to resonate with the listeners.

The thing we noticed and still notice about risk though, is there’s always an element of fear. The fear is what sometimes leaves us immobile, unable to make a decision or to move forward. With our music there was definitely the financial fear, but more that we recognized the fear of failure. What if we tried and no one cared? As we sat with that fear it became more and more clear to us that not trying, not investing and believing in ourselves would be far worse than trying and failing.

So take the risk, invest in yourself, because no matter what it’s always worth it in the end.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

We are a husband and wife songwriting duo from rural northeast Nebraska. Our songwriting and performing career as a duo began in 2012 by taking a risk and releasing of our first collaboration titled “Muscle, Bone, Skin and Fat”. Even though this album is only under the title “Ted Miller”, Alice appears throughout. Our mentality leading up to this project was it could be a one and done kind of thing. Ted really was the catalyst, and wanted to take a handful of the songs we had written and capture them to the fullest potential. We hired studio musicians to help us and we really feel the album turned out wonderfully. With enough interest in the album, we took to performing first locally, and then a little more abroad.

Performing as a duo and generally getting good feedback from our audiences we went on to record more, wanting the next albums to represent us more as a duo. In 2014 we released “Small Talk” which received the Rural Roots Music Commissions Americana Album of the Year award. “Small Talk” represented us a little more accurately as a duo with an intimate feel. Since then we have gone on to release two more studio albums “Adults Don’t Speak” and “Homegrown” as well as a handful of digital singles.

Our next goal/endeavor is to release another full length album and to press this release solely on vinyl. In today’s industry it seems to be all about the local independent artist paying, paying, paying, and paying some more to get their music heard with very little in return – especially in the digital realm. So we figure, why not rebel a little in our own way, It’ll be a bit more of a grassroots/old school method of getting our music heard. If you want to hear our newest songs, you’ll have to come see us in person or buy our album!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson to unlearn…the first thing that comes to mind for me (Ted) is ” learning to how not to play “AT” Alice.

A bit of the backstory here lies in my youth, As a young young kid my first musical influences were Neil Young, John Prine and Bob Dylan, as bestowed upon me by the available records in my older siblings’ record collection. As my teenage years hit and I was the only child in house I discovered and grew a deep attraction to punk rock! I loved all the punk scenes from coast to coast, north to south. I was on a constant quest to always be learning and exploring more. Punk influenced my guitar playing immensely, in fact some people tell me they still hear that a lot in the way I play.

Also, in those earlier years, I didn’t have the most stable home life to say the least. Guitar playing came in waves when I could comfortably make it work without my dad yelling at me to turn that (insert any swear word youn think of) thing down! After the first musical performance I ever played his words to me were, “Don’t quite your day job”. Combine that with getting my guitar ripped out of my hands, pinning me to the ground and telling me I’m a poor excuse for a human being, and you get a pretty clear picture that I didn’t get the most supportive and confident foundation for any musical performances. Those experiences followed me into my adult years and created a lot of fear and anxiousness around performing.

When Alice and I first started playing together it was second nature for me to play intensely, rigid, and fast almost as if the guitar was an eyelash away from keeling over with anxiety. I took a little over a few years to learn how to play with her as musicians instead of playing “AT” her in an anxious way. Breaking old patterns and habits is hard, but I think for the most part we’ve made great progress and it shows in the way that we work with each other on stage.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Sometimes I (Alice) think it’s hard for non-creatives to understand what we as creatives go through and what we sometimes have to overcome in order to not only share our projects, but to grow, learn and expand. As Ted illustrated above, there can be limiting beliefs and old conditioning that tells us we’re not good enough. There can be fear that keeps us from even trying in the first place and overwhelming expectations of what we think we’re supposed to be that can make us feel like imposters. I’ve often found myself feeling like… what am I doing here? I’m not good enough to be on this stage or in this recording studio….what if someone find’s out I don’t really know what I’m doing? I suspect I’m not alone in this. I would venture to say many artists feel these things from time to time and so I wanted to touch on this topic because it hits close to home for me. I think choosing to be a creative (or maybe creativity chooses you) is brave and hats off to all of us putting our hearts on our sleeves for others to either accept or not accept.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.tedandalicemiller.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted_and_alice_miller_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tedmillermusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tedalicemiller1245

Image Credits

Photo credits: Tonya Kamrath, Kelly Stone, South Dakota Public Broadcasting