Brian Miller
What motivated you get involved in your community? I fell in love with Irish traditional music as a teenager in northern Minnesota. From the beginning, I was drawn to the community of musicians and fans and the value placed on community by the culture of Irish traditional music. When I began playing gigs and sessions in the Twin Cities, I got to know so many people who volunteered at the local festivals, threw social events and just generally helped each other out and I loved all of that and decided it was how I wanted to live my life. The Center for Irish Music started in 2004 and I joined as a teacher and volunteer soon after. When the Celtic Junction opened in 2009 I got involved there as well. Through touring the US and Canada with music groups I saw many other Irish cultural centers and was further inspired to help build that type of infrastructure here in Minnesota.
How do you think your community work has brought about positive change? I'm extremely proud of the impact the Center for Irish Music has had on the music I love. For my part there, I have taught hundreds of musicians of all ages over the past 18 years. I have former students who are world class players living in Cork, Dublin, Boston and all around Minnesota and Wisconsin. They are all helping to promote and invigorate Irish traditional music. Minnesota is on the map as a wellspring of Irish musicians, a good place to live for Irish musicians and a place to visit for musicians on tour. That growth has fed the growth of the Celtic Junction's concert and class audiences. Since I started working at the Junction's Eoin McKiernan Library in 2016, my work has further built up Minnesota's Irish cultural bona fides by unearthing and preserving the history of Irish cultural expression in Minnesota over the past 150 years. This work has drawn international attention and helped build a historical foundation for further Irish cultural expression in Minnesota.
Has your job or profession helped in your community work? My professional life has been intertwined with my community work all along and the two are constantly feeding each other. As a professional performer, music teacher, researcher and librarian I am always engaged with the Irish cultural community. This work brings me outside the Twin Cities and gives me valuable perspectives ranging from those in Ireland itself to small towns in northern Minnesota to Irish-American meccas like Boston and Chicago.
Something people would be surprised to know about me... I have very little Irish ancestry. My Millers did likely immigrate from Ireland in the early 1700s but most of my family background is a German, English and Scottish mix. My life-long love of Irish music and culture has been fed by the beauty and depth of the music, the vibrant cultural community in Irish-America and Ireland and wonderful friendships and fond memories from dozens of visits to Ireland itself.
Biography: Brian’s deep involvement with Irish music began when he was a high-schooler in Bemidji, Minnesota in the 1990s. He toured nationally for 14 years with the band Bua and performs now with Danny Diamond, the Lost Forty and Two Tap Trio. He has taught at the Center for Irish Music since 2006 and at music camps and workshops around the US and Canada. Brian directs the Eoin McKiernan Library at Celtic Junction Arts Center. His research into Irish music in the Great Lakes region has earned him several grants and a Parsons Award from the American Folklife Center. evergreentrad.com
