Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Bill Miller will bring his blend of Native American and Western folk/blues traditions to Mountain Valley High School Friday, March 3. Concert proceeds will benefit the high school’s music programs.

Miller’s “Cedar Dream Songs,” an instrumental CD featuring the Native American flute, won this year’s Grammy Award for Best Native American Recording.

Another album, “You Are The Rain,” is about attaining a measure of wisdom through suffering. “It’s about the pieces of my life,” said Miller, a Mohican Indian from northern Wisconsin. That sentiment rings true in songs like “Face The Blues,” a hot-blooded blues tune about being knocked down and getting back up again. Tracks like “I Believe” and “Love Sustained” make bold statements about living out one’s personal credo, while songs like “Little Brother (Spirit Rain)” and “Underneath The Blue Sky” adapt traditional Native American musical conventions to the folk/rock idiom.

Digging deep with music and art is nothing new to Miller, a recording artist, performer, songwriter, activist and painter.

With music, he discovered a way out of the entrenched poverty of the reservation, and he has used his talent to build bridges wherever he goes.

At age 12, Miller got his first guitar. Although he played in teen rock bands for a few years, he soon tired of it. Trading his electric guitar for an acoustic, he began to play folk music and bluegrass, and took up the Native American flute, which he came to master.

Early in his career, Miller often dealt with racism because of his Native American heritage. In time, he wrote songs with the likes of Nancy Griffith, Peter Rowan and Kim Carnes, and shared the stage with such diverse artists as Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, the BoDeans, Richie Havens and Arlo Guthrie. He got a big break when Tori Amos asked him to be her opening act on the Under The Pink U.S. and Canadian tour. The tour, which sold out venues across the country, was extended to more than 200 shows.

Despite setbacks, including battles with alcoholism and family tragedies, Miller never stopped growing as a singer, songwriter and performer.

“Ghost Dance,” released in 1999, brought him recognition at the 2000 Native American Music Awards. He took home five Nammys that night, including Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Song of the Year.

Miller has an equally active career as a painter. His work has been shown and sold in prestigious galleries around the country, and he maintains a studio at his Nashville home, where he lives with his wife and children.

Redhawk Medicine Drum group will open the concert presented by First Light Counseling Services of Mexico.