Sam Milton is a Portland songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He’s played violin since age three (and plays too many other instruments to count now). He’s released numerous solo projects, primarily writing, performing, recording, mixing, and mastering them entirely by himself. He also presses the CDs, screen-prints the merch, and runs the promotion. The Portland Mercury featured his debut studio LP, Nausea, it in its music picks, referring to Sam as “Portland’s New Elliott Smith,” and it’s had radio play up and down the West Coast.

He leads a five-piece band, plays a weekly Thursday residency at the Rose City Book Pub, and frequently headlines large showcase with well established Portland acts (Barna Howard, Johnny Franco, Amos Heart, etc.).

With producer and engineer Christopher Jack (The Dandy Warhols, Sleater-Kinney, The Shins, Slash, etc.), his closest collaborator, he also hosts the Garden Party show series, putting together lineups, building stages, and arranging details that continue to breathe life into a blossoming and rapidly growing music community within Portland.

Sam treats his students as serious artists. The work is hands-on: you learn by making your song, not by watching somebody else make it. His philosophy is simple: enjoying the process matters more than getting every detail technically perfect. The people who get great at something are usually the ones who love doing it.