Mike Mills Shares Excerpts From ‘Concerto for Violin and Rock Band’

As R.E.M.’s website announced a few days ago, founding member Mike Mills “realized a long term project in the making when he gathered a group of musicians at 1093 Boulevard Studios and recorded his composition ‘Concerto for Violin and Rock Band.’” Fans can get a glimpse into the new project in the video above.

Mills created a new rock band of sorts that featured ex-Drive-By Truckers guitarist John Neff, Five-Eight drummer Patrick Ferguson and Wade Hester, who played in a cover band in the mid-‘80s called “Corn Cob Webs with Mike and Bill Berry.”

In addition to the colorful cast of rock and roll characters, Mills assembled a 15-piece string section from the Center for Strings at Mercer University. The entire piece was tracked live -- And as you can tell from the video, the end result is amazing.

To see photos from the session, visit Mercer University’s website here. The above video only features excerpts from the piece; a release date for the overall recording has not yet been released.