Don’t Miss Milton Busker & The Grim Work at Summervale!
By Kally Sample, Music Intern
Summervale’s lineup for this Thursday is stacked! Slow Food Vermont is bringing us an Heirloom Tomato Tasting, and City Market’s Make it From Scratch is Salad on a Stick. Our featured sponsors are Skinny Pancake, Ceres Natural Remedies, and Gardener’s Supply Co.
Our amazing band this week is Milton Busker & The Grim Work! Milton Busker & The Grim Work has been bringing their genre of “suit-folk” to audiences and stages since 2014. Milton, the man himself said he enjoys collaborating with other artists because of “the surprises. When I write a song, I usually have a pretty defined idea of how I want it to end up, but when I bring it to the rest of the band, I love to find out how they hear it and where they think the song is going. It always changes my perception of what I thought I was creating. It can be hard sometimes to let go of the original idea, but I find that when you trust the other artists to support you, they make it much better”.
Music has always been a key part of Milton Busker’s life. I’ve always loved singing and when I was younger,” Milton says, “I [locked] myself in my bedroom for hours on end singing along to whatever album had recently grabbed my attention; I would sing show tunes at family gatherings (my version of “Sunrise Sunset” always brought down the house - or rather the living room); When I was really young I had a very loud and unmusical Cookie Monster toy piano (the eyes would spin around when you hit the keys hard enough) that I would pretend to play for anyone brave enough to sit through it. In high school I wanted nothing more than to sing in a band, so I picked up the bass guitar in order to make myself more attractive to potential bandmates. I found some kindred spirits and we played through high school and into the world outside”.
The list of those who influence Milton Busker is long and filled with artists of various genres and styles, all amazing and impressive for different reasons- Ray Charles, The Beatles, Elliot Smith, Sylvan Esso, Nina Simone, Kathleen Edwards, Tom Petty, and plenty more. It’s also important to note that Milton is “also inspired by a lot of local artists like Joe Adler, Kat Wright, and Dan Blakeslee who work tirelessly to make their art their living. [Really] the entire Burlington music community is amazing”. Milton’s favorite thing about his genre is the fact “that you don’t have to be some type of golden-throated wunderkind to sing along to [the melodies]. No disrespect to the Robert Plant’s and Freddie Mercury’s of the world, but they are the only people who can do what they do. I consider myself part of the folk tradition, and I’ve always loved the drive to tell stories about people who can’t (or won’t) tell their own”.
Come join us on Thursday to witness this great band in action! It will be a great night with delicious food and dancin’ tunes.