Chuck’s Wagon opens for Miles Nielsen and the Rusted Hearts at 8 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Acorn Theater, 107 Generations Drive in Three Oaks. Tickets are $20.
Somewhere between a bar and the recording studio, Miles Nielsen stirs up his own pop rock brand of Beatles-eque cosmic Americana. Pop rock arrangements and sunny melodies are tucked between a long lost country folk steel guitar floating through speakers around crashing drums, bouncing bass lines and smooth as butter keys.
Born in Rockford, lll, home of Cheap Trick, power pop DNA runs through the veins of his songs and performances. With 13 years spent playing bars, clubs and theaters, Miles has played and performed as vocalist and lead guitarist in many Midwestern bands from past to present, Harmony Riley, HMS, and most recently, as a member in the Appleton, Wis., via Rockford ensemble, Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons, as well as his own band when time permits as Miles Nielsen & The Rusted Hearts.
Aside from opening for acts such as Medeski, Martin & Wood, to Cake, to Moe, he also co-owns a recording studio in Rockford, FUSE, that has served as the recording home to Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons.
He has worked with many artists, such as Augie Meyers, Lonnie Brooks, Gabriel Reed, Cheap Trick, and The Good Year Pimps.
From writing and performing his own tunes to recording and performing on other artists’ songs, Nielsen continues to help carry out that very rare rock n’ roll torch that only few can claim out loud, “That sound?… it came from the Midwest.”