Moonridge

It is rare in today’s pop culture to find songwriters that can combine musically rich soundscapes with deeply soulsearching, intensely thoughtful lyrics. That very combination is found with the music of Moonridge. “I really feel that our personal purpose is to be musicmakers that offer hope and understanding in a real and honest way,” says Janet Margo, lead singer/songwriter. “We’ve been through seriously intense experiences that could be thought of as negative, but those experiences have just made us stronger and our hope and faith that much deeper. I want to share that hope through our music, especially nowadays when it seems that our generation views life with such cynicism.” What surprises most people when they hear Moonridge’s debut CD, Still Standing, is that this is the artistic work of two people, with all tracks recorded and mixed at home. Mick Miller, lead guitarist and songwriter, also recorded and mixed down the album, and played backup keyboard, bass, and rhythm tracks. “It’s fun to perform and produce in different ways. I get a certain satisfaction with sculpting a song the way I want it to sound like when I record and mix it,” says Miller. “It’s also fun to play live and experience the energy from audiences.” The synergy of Margo and Miller draws from varied musical influences and backrounds. Margo studied opera at California State University, Northridge and Arizona State University, but left a master’s program in music to pursue artistic freedom with her own music. “The training in the world of opera is very stifling, with tradition ruling everything. You are dictated how to sing, down to the last vowel. I felt I had more to contribute on another path, expressing myself in my own style with my own words and music.” Margo went back to her roots as a young child playing folk songs on acoustic guitar, and drew from her love of many musical genres, including pop, jazz, and rock, as well as literary influences such as Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou, and Dylan Thomas. Mick Miller has played guitar since the age of 5. Growing up in culturally rich New Orleans, music was the fabric of his young life. With an ear leaning towards expressive guitar work, he draws from widely varied influences, from Satriani and Hendrix, to Boston, Journey and Rush. “It was a lot of fun growing up in New Orleans. I heard great blues and jazz in the French Quarter. In Metairie there’s a place called Fat City and I saw a lot of bands there and played underage in bars there too”, says Miller. Miller’s father, who also is a musician, introduced him to the world of pro audio at a young age. Miller has worked as a stage manager and live sound engineer at Long Beach Blues Festival, Adams Avenue Street Fair in San Diego, and San Diego Rock ‘n Roll Marathon. The music of Moonridge, named after Moonridge Road in Big Bear, CA where the couple lived, is a testament to this rich tapestry of musical influences. With soaring, melodic vocal lines combined with guitar work that is alternately rockin’ and lyrical, it is music that is unique yet widely appealing. The beginnings of Moonridge started in early 2000 in San Diego, Ca. Miller was playing and singing a new original song on acoustic guitar for a friend on the patio of Starbucks. A friend of Margo’s heard him and thought Margo’s original songs and style were compatible with Miller’s. They were introduced and their artistic chemistry was powerful from the beginning. “I had been looking for a year for a musical collaborator to write and play songs with. I answered ads for musicians, nothing was panning out, and I was getting discouraged. Mick was an answer to my prayers.” That fateful introduction has led to more than the music of Moonridge. The couple wed in 2002 and welcomed their son, Pierce Christian Miller, into the world in January 2003. The couple has moved frequently in the last few years, with slim finances often dictating these moves. A recent series of unfortunate events, including a head-on car crash and losing a work van to arson, has tested the couple’s faith and resolve. “We’ve had a rough time but have held on to our dreams. I think there is an ebb and flow to people’s lives,” says Margo. “We have had a long ebb. We have faith that the flow will inevitably come.”