Vermont musician's concert, podcast worlds come together with live event in Stowe
To be a full-time professional musician in Vermont means having to string together a lot of part-time gigs.
Troy Millette does just that. The Fairfax native plays shows regularly, either solo or with his band the Fire Below. He works days in music therapy. He takes on occasional duties such as hosting the recent singer-songwriter competition at the Venetian Cocktail and Soda Lounge in Burlington.
Millette's most high-profile work of the past few months might be the podcast 'Load-In Through the Back' that he hosts with help from friend and producer Pauly Varricchione. For the podcast, Millette has talked with local musicians as well as a host of nationally-known acts ranging from Five for Fighting, Arrested Development and Soul Asylum to Kevin Cronin of '80s hitmakers REO Speedwagon.
Millette's gig life and podcast life come together May 2 in Stowe. Millette hosts a live 'Load-In Through the Back' podcast with 2000s rockers Wheatus, known for the song 'Teenage Dirtbag,' as well as songwriter and Americana musician Steve Poltz. Wheatus leader Brendan B. Brown, Poltz and Millette and his band will all play, as will the Washington, D.C. group Brian K. & the Parkway, in a pre-show busker-style performance.
'You gotta keep as many plates spinning as you can' to make it as a musician in Vermont, said Millette, who lives in Williston. 'I just want to be involved with as much as possible.'
The podcast began last August with the goal of revealing stories about musicians that their fans might not have heard before. Cronin told Millette about the time he was trying to promote a show with the band Train by taking a photo on railroad tracks when he almost got run over by a train. Soul Asylum referenced the podcast's title by discussing one of the '90s band's most memorable concert load-ins, when they brought their gear into a venue past a crematorium during a flood.
Millette and Varricchione usually play a pre-recorded song by the featured artist. Brown said he wanted to play a live acoustic set, so the idea for a podcast/concert was born. Millette expects the live discussion to be in more of a freewheeling, round-table mode than those recorded in a studio setting.
'Steve and Brendan B. Brown are such positive energies but in very different ways,' according to Millette. He said Brown is fairly laid-back while Poltz, who co-wrote Jewel's 1995 hit 'You Were Meant for Me,' is typically 'bouncing off the walls.'
Millette acknowledges he sometimes feels overwhelmed with all of his musical duties, especially when he misses his life partner while spending so much time on the road.
'I don't know how many more 200-gigs-a-year-in-my-SUV I have in me,' said Millette, who turns 31 in May and played 189 shows in 2024. He said, though, that it's hard to resist the lure of a gig where he gets to have fun and hang out with friends, even if he only gets paid $50 and has to drive 50 miles to do it.
WHAT: 'Load-In Through the Back' podcast and concert with Wheatus, Steve Poltz, Troy Millette & the Fire Below and Brian K. & the Parkway
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, May 2
WHERE: Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Stowe
INFORMATION: $45-$55. www.sprucepeakarts.org
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont musician offers concert and podcast with Wheatus, Steve Poltz
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