Acclaimed Northwest guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Truck Mills is a musical explorer. No pith helmets and jungle expeditions here, though. Instead, he travels from his home in Sandpoint, Idaho, diving into music from South America, Turkey, the Middle East and beyond, and filtering these influences into his wholly original music. Getting his start, as many young guitarists in the 1970s, with the country blues, Truck has always searched for a spark of inspiration in music. In the 70s, he found this inspiration in the transcendent slide guitar playing of Blind Willie Johnson, or the soaring gospel singing of Mahalia Jackson, both of which he worked for years to master. Now he finds his inspiration in the Middle-Eastern oud, or the South American charango, or in writing his own compositions. He's looking for music that touches deep inside all of us. When he finds that music, he dives in head first, immersing himself in a new tradition. A typical Truck Mills show can feature deft, rapid fingerpicked guitar, lap steel or slide guitar, a gospel song, an old cowboy song remixed with a samba beat, an improvisation on the oud, and beautiful original compositions on the Turkish saz. This kind of musical world-melding can be a dizzying experience, and Truck's music has been described as "Afro-Latin influenced barrelhouse blues being played by Irish immigrants in a Turkish restaurant on Bourbon Street." It's a global mix of music, for sure, but Truck's impeccable musical taste ties all these influences together into a neat package. He's looking for the heart of the music; the spark that inspires us all.

Truck Mills is a fixture of the Idaho music scene. Every Monday for the past seventeen years, he's led a blues jam session at Eichardt's in Sandpoint, Idaho. He teaches music at a private high school in the area, and plays in bands like Carl Rey & The Blues Gators, Cryin' Shame, and a duo with percussionist Chris Ervin. Though he frequently tours solo, he loves playing with other musicians, and is noted for his sensitive accompaniment. As Truck says, "For me, the most important part of playing is listening." Truck's shared the stage with artists such as Keb' Mo', and Jesse Collin Young, been featured on National Public Radio, and was one of the solo artists featured at the "Guitar Summit" concert in 2004 at the Met Theatre in Spokane Washington. With over three decades of experience, he's a performer at ease on large stages and intimate house concerts. Truck Mills' new album, The Day After Yesterday, is a kaleidoscopic journey through his original compositions on multiple instruments. Critically acclaimed by blues and folk music reviewers, Truck's music has been described as "soul-stirring," "amazing," "authentic," "warm," "crisp and clear."

The foundation of Truck Mills' music lies in the blues, specifically the country blues, but he's not afraid to rework and rebuild the classics of the genre. His guitar work and vocals are infused both with a deep knowledge and a deep love of American roots music, but he roves far and wide from this grounding. His music has a global reach, but a local connection. It's music for a new century, for as the world draws closer, we realize how our music connects us.