Scott Miller

The musical influence of New Orleans rhythm and blues extends far north of the Mason-Dixon Line — in fact, all the way up to Minnesota's Twin Cities, home base for blues pianist Scott Miller (a.k.a. Scottie Miller, not to be confused with the frontman of the Loud Family). Miller fronts his own eponymous group and has also spent time on the road with Bo Diddley and others, and he incorporates a number of the Crescent City's characteristic trickerations — and what Jelly Roll Morton called "the Spanish tinge" — into his fast-fingered keyboard work, alongside the expected Chicago blues and boogie-woogie influences. Miller is also a capable singer and tunesmith, with a well-paced live show that moves seamlessly through a variety of moods and funky grooves.