The River Street Jazz Cafe has a long history of hosting musical performances by tribute performers. These musicians do something special by trying to recreate a sound that’s hard to hear, but we also love to host musicians who have their own sound. That’s why we have Mike Miz coming to our location on Friday, September 2nd, for a one-night-only event.
Who is Mike Miz?
Mike Mizwinski is a singer/songwriter/guitarist who has come to be better known as Mike Miz. When he showed an interest in music at a young age, he was thankfully encouraged by his family to pursue it. At seven years old, he began practicing on the guitar and started writing songs at twelve years old.
After years of honing his craft and becoming an accomplished singer as well, he’s made a career out of music. Now he performs over 200 shows a year and has opened for a number of famous and popular musicians, including:
- Jason Isbell
- Jakob Dylan
- Lukas Nelson
- Blues Traveler
- Derek Trucks
- Kenny Wayne Shepherd
- The Felice Brothers
- Shawn Colvin
- Leon Russell
- Chris Isaak
- Peter Wolf
- Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes
- Jackie Greene
- Railroad Earth
If you’ve been to any of their performances, you may already be familiar with Mike Miz’s original music.
The Singles of Mike Miz
His repertoire of singles includes a mix of sub-genres in rock and expanded to include more instruments than just his voice and guitar.
- Virginia: One of his biggest and most successful singles, “Virginia,” is a mix of classic rock and country and makes a bittersweet song straight from the heart. Performed with guest artist Nicki Bluhm, they sing a tale about a half-hearted relationship with an epic guitar solo to end on.
- High For Now: Another single that everyone can relate to is how hard life can be as you just try to get by. Mike Miz captures the struggle of just trying to get by and thriving on the highs you can get.
The Albums of Mike Miz
This songwriter doesn’t just do singles but has released two albums in his career as a musician. Between “Being Good at Being Blue” and “October Skies” he has a full selection of songs he can perform for the crowd.
The Difficulty in Songwriting
Learning how to play an instrument is hard enough. It takes years of learning to be able to read and play sheets of music without it being a struggle. To then write a melody requires careful attention to detail and what notes sound good when played together.
One note sounds fine enough on its own, but what if it comes after a different musical note or before a third different musical note? This doesn’t even take into account the different sounds chords make. Then you have to take care that all of these musical notes sound well together in perpetuity as you add more notes until you’ve completed a chorus.
This is difficult enough to do for one instrument, then you have to take into account a number of others, including vocals. You have to test and develop a talent for knowing what kinds of notes, chords, and melodies on one instrument sound good with another.
When the process is done, you’re lucky to have a quality song to work with. Mike Miz has had to put in the work like other songwriters to do this not once, not twice, but more than two dozen times across two albums.
Get Your Tickets for this One-Night-Only Performance!
On Friday, September 2nd, Mike Miz will leave his home state of Tennessee to perform here in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania! Don’t pass up this chance to hear him play, because who knows when he’ll be in these parts again! You get your tickets online now, or at the door.
You must be 21 years or older to attend. The doors open at 7:00 PM and the show kicks off at 8:00 PM!