Once upon a time, in New York City, a young musician and artist named Sheri Miller, armed with her acoustic guitar, her electric sunburst 1969 Guild guitar, her Yamaha keyboard, and a pen and paper, began to write songs. Dozens of songs. She had a great love and a deep, soulful connection to music, as her mother was an opera singer and classical piano player, and her uncle a recording engineer. During the evenings, Sheri was hard at work, paying her musical dues, working incessantly as a solo musician in the big city; fearlessly singing her heart out, banging on her guitar. Playing 4-hour covers gigs in bars and hotels, sometimes 5 nights a week. In the daytime, Sheri played keyboards and sang in a rock band for babies, as a music teacher. In between these hours, when not tirelessly working to pay her rent as a musician, Sheri passionately wrote hundreds of pages of loose-leaf-strewn lyrics, dozens upon dozens of songs; channeling her anguish and heartbreak from a major love break-up, and dealing with tumultuous heart-breaking family issues. Sheri poured her struggles, inner demons and inner angels, and heart-drenched stories into creating a new, magnificent album; an album with integrity, soul, and artistry she’d be proud of. Sheri had released her critically-acclaimed debut record in 2008, “Mantra,” which featured an underground hit, “Right Here, Right Now.” Upon releasing “Mantra,” Sheri was named one of Music Connection’s “Hot 100 Unsigned Artists,” played on KCRW and Q104.3 FM, and asked to join a 4-part vocal harmony group in Nashville, The Delilahs, which soon signed to Sony Music. Sheri began co-writing with icon J.D. Souther (The Eagles), Jill Sobule, Shawn Mullins, Marcus Hummon (Dixie Chicks), Al Anderson (NRBQ) and many other incredible songwriters. But the group fell apart, and Sheri came back to New York with new inspiration. But who would produce this authentic artist’s songs? Sheri reached out and contacted the amazing and legendary producer Kevin Killen (U2, Peter Gabriel). She played him a few songs from the inspired hurricane of titles she was writing, and shortly thereafter, with great joy, Sheri and Kevin began recording the new album “Winning Hand.” Enlisting the all-star band of incredible, legendary musicians Will Lee (Fab Faux, CBS Orchestra), Charley Drayton (Paul Simon, Neil Young, Johnny Cash) and Gerry Leonard (David Bowie, Suzanne Vega), the artistic, poetic, and super-catchy songs of “Winning Hand” took shape. “Spoons,” the super-hooky, uptempo, beloved song dedicated to the art of “spooning” in bed. “Winning Hand,” the inspiring, “go for it, risk it all” anthem, with the uplifting, positive message “Bet we lay down a winning hand.” “Satellite,” a Led Zeppelin meets Joni Mitchell seductive love song, beckoning a lover in outer space; written in a rare, strange guitar tuning invented by Sheri. “Everybody Feels This Way Sometimes,” a highly melodic, deeply confessional, raw song, lifting with an anthemic chorus. “Hungry For The Truth,” a sassy, attitude-filled, poetic, rebellious declaration of owning one’s individuality. Soon enough, the songs were recorded and “Winning Hand” was finished. Sheri had labored hard, faced struggles, but emerged proud of this CD, and couldn’t wait for the world to hear it. She excitedly released the stunning songs of “Winning Hand” out into the world, and watched these songbirds fly away. Higher and higher they went. Sheri smiled. She couldn’t wait to see what happens next. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.