Recording artist, guitar stylist, lyricist and scientist-engineer Alan Miller brings a diverse collection of music and lyrics together following his early training with world-class recording artists at the Guitar Institute of Technology (Musician’s Institute) in Hollywood.

With a long career as an environmental engineer and activist in the Eastern Sierra, Tahoe Al is energized to create, collaborate and share with others to express the love of life, the experiences he has learned from, and to uplift all with his passions for music and creative self-expression.

Tahoe Al believes in distributing his talent! Check out his Lyrics & Writings page to listen to his original music and/or read or download his lyrics.

Tahoe Al currently curates (and performs!) the Songwriter Showcase Concerts & Open Mic nights 3-4 times a year at Unity at The Lake.

Highlights from his formal musical training include studying voice and music theory for guitar in high school with Stanley R. Wold, who later had a distinguished 33-year career as Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Minnesota Duluth until his 2017 retirement. He also inspired Al to take up the keyboard. From there Al attended a one-year crash course in guitar at the school founded by guitarist and studio-artist great Howard Roberts, also a master educator, with some of his finest associates. During an impressive year Al studied and jammed with many world-class guitarists, saw exclusive performances by Robbin Ford and Eddie Van Halen,  and had teachers including the legendary jazz artists Pat Martino, Ron Eschete, and Tommy Tedesco, the “Godfather” of the well-known Wrecking Crew, the hitmaker studio musicians playing behind many BIG names . . .  and Al had the distinct honor of attending private recordings sessions with Tommy on his incredible album “Hollywood Gypsy.”

Hollywood was fun for a time with various music-related associations and jobs, while working on his own music, including a stint as delivery driver for Studio Instrument Rentals, which got backstage access at many of the Los Angeles recording studios, concert halls and video shoots. Also their own soundstage at times, where the likes of Quincy Jones, Billy Idol, DEVO, and many other acts rehearsed for their road tours and shot music videos. It was a heady time. . . .  he delivered a stereo to Miles Davis at his hotel room, shook his hand, and the same with Mick Jagger. Stumbled into a Tom Petty recording session once. Got backstage at King Crimson, his mate driving a huge old truck through tight spaces and crowds. That was a biggie, among many others.

From there Al moved into working in the film industry as an background actor or “extra” for one of the larger casting companies, TV series, movies, commercials, music videos, etc., rubbing elbows with some big stars (Cybil Shepherd, Bruce Willis, Rodney Dangerfield, Rob Lowe, etc.) and other Hollywood producers including Spielberg (Back to the Future,) Lucas (Star Wars, Indiana Jones), Reiner (The Sure Thing), etc.). See Al with Michael J. Fox in the now-cult -classic “Teen Wolf.” This to make ends meet while playing various gigs and working on 4-track tape recordings. It was through a band connection that Al met his wife, Pam Shaw, and thereafter left the Los Angeles music scene to pursue a career as an environmental engineer, specializing in water quality and waste management. While new studies and work took the fore, Al nonetheless composed and recorded a number of solo guitar compositions, mostly in altered tunings played fingerstyle, and has developed and recorded many more such compositions over the years since.

Around 2011 Al visited his old teacher Ron Eschete at a SoCal jazz club and became inspired to form his own Alan Miller Trio that later became a Quartet. It was strictly for fun and a few local gigs followed. It was around 2015 that a weird lung cancer took Pam, and Al disbanded the Quartet in 2016 to pursue other music. In 2017 he began writing original music and songs again, developing a unique guitar style with hammer-ons and pull-offs and his diverse harmonic influences, songs and song lyrics, which now top well over four hundred, to add to his prior repertoire. Retirement from engineering came in 2018 and a home recording studio followed in 2020 and is the latest adventure in putting certain compositions together for sharing with others. It’s a whole separate art beyond being a musician and a lot of fun both solo and with others. He will continue to develop the songs in his catalog and write new songs as time permits so look for more music as Tahoe Al progresses.