'Giddy Up' over to Trop to see blues prodigy

Harmonica player LD Miller has got his fledgling career off to a promising start. He has made several recordings with his band, competed in a national reality show talent contest, and once got to jam with ex-Beatle Ringo Starr.

Ten-year-old LD Miller has already met blues stars like Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

His success takes on a whole new dimension when you consider he's all of 10 years old.

The pre-teen musical prodigy - appearing through Feb. 14 in the country music revue "Giddy Up" at the Tropicana Casino and Resort - shows maturity beyond his age and the scant four years he's been playing professionally.

Performing "is one of the best things I like to do," says Miller, who in "Giddy Up" sings "It Hurts Me, Too" and plays "Fever" on harmonica.

"I don't know why - just the joy of playing. It's a wonderful thing. It's my fourth year (performing), but I've been around music my whole life."

The production show at the Trop is really a sidelight for the Lafayette, Ind., native. His regular gig is playing with the Clayton Miller Blues Band, whose members include his oldest brother, Clayton, 21, on guitar and vocals; middle brother Cole, 18, on drums and vocals; and his dad, Larry, on bass.

"I like blues and I like rock 'n' roll - Southern rock," says LD, who in his short career has already met blues stars like Buddy Guy, Shemekia Copeland and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

"I've been around music my whole life. It's been blues when we've been camping - playing around the fire. I always loved the blues. My brother started a band ... I guess I wanted some action. I picked up the harmonica, and I guess I'm pretty good at it."

The band, which has released two albums and is working on a third, is a natural extension of the family's campground jams.

"The blues has been our family's thing," Larry Miller says. "We went to all the festivals and played around the campfire all the time."

The family's professional move came about when Clayton Miller graduated from high school and wanted to form a band.

He asked his brother, Cole, and father, a guitarist who had never played professionally, to join him. The group started playing in their hometown at Purdue University and at local coffeehouses, before moving on to blues festivals and the college circuit.

LD, the youngest, joined the band after mastering the harmonica on his own.

"We heard him get off the school bus one day and we couldn't believe it - he was bending notes," Larry Miller recalls. "We took him to some really good harmonica players in Indiana. They said we don't need to touch anything he's doing. If you need help, come back."

LD's talents also brought him to the attention of the NBC reality show, "The Search for America's Most Talented Kid," where last May he made it to the finals in his age group before losing.

"It was one of the best things in my life," LD says. "It's going to be something I remember, that's for sure. All the kids were fun - it was a really fun experience."

Another highlight was meeting Starr backstage at "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

"I jammed with Ringo ... he was very nice," LD says. "He said, 'Can you play the bloody (harmonica)? I did. He said, 'That's a hell of a lot of blues for a 9-year-old.' "

As you might suspect, LD is already a consummate professional who usually doesn't get stage fright.

"On the TV show, I got nervous almost every time - it's like millions of people," he says. "When I'm playing gigs and stuff, I'm not nervous. The audiences make me more comfortable. If they're rowdy, I get into it."

The fourth grader, who is home-schooled by his mother, Tammy, also likes to hang out with the adult cast members from "Giddy Up."

"If I play at night, it's much better," he says. "If you play during the day, all the sunlight's on you, I don't like that. But in the hotel, you can't really tell. You can stay out until five o'clock in the morning and you don't notice," although he acknowledges midnight is the latest he's stayed up.

"Usually, you play at 8," he continues. "You want to go do something afterwards. There's a lounge here. Me and the guys like to sit down there and have Cokes."

When he returns home to Indiana, LD looks forward to having some playtime with his peers, with whom he keeps in touch through e-mail and instant messaging.

"I like to play and stuff when we get home from the tour - I go out and play with my friends," says LD, who keeps taped to his hotel room mirror a picture of the dirt bike he's planning to buy with some of his earnings.

His friends haven't let success go to his head, either. "They think it's cool, but they always treat me right," he says.

Keeping a sense of normalcy is important to Larry Miller, who didn't plan to launch a family enterprise like the Osmonds or the Jacksons.

Miller, who owns a janitorial business, says his family has its ups and downs like any other. And the fact that the entire family isn't in Atlantic City has been a little difficult.

"We're a family - you get in the van and travel so many miles, if LD gets out of line, his brothers want him to know," he says. "It's not like everything's hunky-dory. I think we've all quit (the band) a lot. When we came out (to Atlantic City), our 18-year-old didn't want (us to come). We talk to him every day. We're not used to being apart."

Although unexpected, the band - and LD's success - represent a "dream come true" for Larry Miller.

"Can you imagine standing on the stage, the crowd's going crazy, you're looking over and your three sons are jamming their hearts out and their soul," he says. "It's kind of a dream come true. I never thought it would come true. I didn't really plan this - it just happened."

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WHO: LD Miller in 'Giddy Up'

WHERE: Showroom, Tropicana Casino and Resort, Atlantic City

WHEN: Through Feb. 28 (LD Miller appears through Feb. 14). Times vary.

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $19.95. Call Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420, Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com or the Tropicana box office.