Gene Mills is a triple threat: a strong singer, a fluid, melodic flatpicker, and a writer of extraordinary songs about work, love, loss, and lunacy. On his Waiting For Rain CD, consisting of 13 original compositions (including one instrumental), Gene is joined by Steve Smith on mandolin, Missy Raines on bass, Bill Evans on banjo, and Claire Lynch on harmony vocals, among others. He has won song-writing awards for half the songs the CD, including Oregon Hill, Earl Thomas Johnson, Country Boy, Working Man's Hands, and Anna Mae.

Gene has been performing for over 30 years. Starting in the Charlottesville, Virginia area, he performed both solo and in various ensembles, including a trio with Bill Evans and the late Freyda Epstein (of Trapezoid), and duos with Bill and with Steve Smith, among others. After several years as a full-time musician, he put music on the back burner to pursue a career in academia, performing only very occasionally for about 15 years. Now a philosophy professor, he once again performs regularly, with his wife, Gayla, on upright bass. Gene and Gayla Mills play in and around central Virginia.

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