Local band man gets to open for guitar hero

Ken Sederdahl has been an avid follower of guitar legend Robin Trower most of his life.

As a boy, he was exposed to Trower as a member of Procol Harum and on Trower's classic solo collection, "Bridge of Sighs;" as a budding guitarist, he studied and tried to copy Trower's technique; then in recent years he has attended every live show Trower plays in the Northwest.

"He's not as known, but he's one of the best," Sederdahl said of Trower. "He's the closest thing to Hendrix anyone can experience right now."

When he heard Trower was playing on March 10 at the Knitting Factory in Spokane, Sederdahl was hoping to take one step closer to his music idol with backstage passes, at the least.

Instead Sederdahl and his rock/blues band, the Kenny James Miller Band, will be part of the show, opening for Trower in the 1,500-seat venue.

Sederdahl said he's more nervous about this show than for any other he has played. "His signature is on my guitar; he signed it about four years ago. I've met the dude a few times, but I've never got to sit and visit with him."

It all makes for a special early birthday present for Sederdahl, who turns 48 six days after the concert. Sederdahl has been working hard as a part-time but serious musician locally since he put together the rock and blues band Blue Onion in 1998.

He has made his living in the agricultural supply business since 1984, when he started working at the Farmer's Union/Cenex cooperative in Eureka.

He moved to Kalispell in 1993 to work at what was then Equity Supply, and established the Blue Onion band in 1998 by putting an advertisement seeking fellow musicians in the Mountain Trader. He wanted a drummer and a bass player to match up with his own guitar and vocal skills, and was joined by Ron Foster and Chris Coen. The Blue Onion band played steadily for about a decade.

Sederdahl described Blue Onion as "rock with a blues flavor."

The Kenny James Miller Band, which now features Sederdahl on lead and rhythm guitar and vocals, Mark Miller on drums and Mark Cornett on bass, is similar, though the sound is a bit more "jazz, funk and rock, with blues influence."

Sederdahl's bands have played mostly his original music, which he described as having "God-inspired" lyrical content and guitar-god-inspired musicianship.

His bands have been part of blues festivals throughout the northwest, including the Ritzville Blues Festival in Ritzville, Wash., the Sunbanks Blues Festival in eastern Washington, the Tacoma Old Town Blues Festival, and Rockin' the Rivers in Three Forks, where he has played on the same stage as George Thorogood, Alice Cooper and Collective Soul.

Sederdahl handled most of the administrative duties such as booking, finances and promotion for Blue Onion, but with the Kenny James Miller Band, he gladly has handed those responsibilities off to John and Tanya Hauss. Sederdahl currently is the retail manager over all locations for Cenex, and he commutes from his home in Elmo to the Flathead Valley daily, so he's short on spare time.

Sederdahl has been making time for music in his life, though, since he traded a motorcycle for his first guitar when he was in his early 20s.

During his childhood in New Jersey, he didn't play any instruments but developed a passion for the rockabilly-style sound, buying records of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis when Sederdahl was as young as 6. His older brothers, though, were tuned into Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, Cream and Trower, giving Sederdahl exposure to the guitar heroes he would later emulate.

The family moved to Eureka in 1974, and it was a chance encounter there in the 1980s, while Sederdahl was working for the Farmer's Union store, that initiated his musical career.

"I had a bike sitting in front of the store, and a hippie guy came in and asked whose motorcyle that was," he said. "He didn't have any money, but said he would trade it for his guitar.

"The bike was worth $300, the guitar was worth a grand. It was a no-brainer."

The guitar's former owner also told Sederdahl he would teach him to play and gave him a lesson in the standard beginner's first song, "Sweet Home Alabama." Sederdahl developed immediate enthusiasm for the instrument and reversed course from his first thought, which was to sell the guitar after the trade.

He still didn't get serious about his playing for almost another decade. That was when Trower's style really hit home, though he remembers listening to his brothers' eight-tracks of musicians such as Trower and Eric Clapton as a kid.

"I didn't get into the heavy shooters until I could play the music myself," he said. "Then I thought I had to learn how to play like him [Trower]. He's had a big influence on my guitar tone and style."

The Kenny James Miller Band secured their gig as the warm-up band for Trower after a Knitting Factory manager had Trower's talent agency listen to their music on their website. They liked what they heard.

They are being paid only in VIP passes to open for Robin Trower, but Sederdahl said that's not an issue.

"We're just getting a lot of exposure, and something like this is really hard to get," he said. "There are hundreds of bands looking to do jobs like this."

"And just to open for a dude who has had that kind of an influence on you - that's a pretty rare thing."

Tickets for the show are $24. For more information, visit http://sp.knittingfactory.com.

Reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4431 or by e-mail at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com.