So you think your schedule is hectic? Try studying for your master’s degree in English while teaching, releasing an entirely self-produced record and performing live to promote that record.

That’s exactly what local blues-jazz artist Sam Miller is doing.

“I pretty much average around three gigs a month,” Miller says. “For instance, I play a restaurant lounge once a month on Tuesday. I’m in class until 5:00 on Tuesdays, then I have to race back to Des Moines to go play, then get back in Ames by 9:00 the next morning to teach.”

This hectic schedule doesn’t bring Miller down though — he’s been in the music scene since the early ’90s when he helped start the popular central Iowa band, the Accidental Sisters.

Due to musical differences, Miller left the Accidental Sisters and took a two-year break from the music scene.

In 1998, he resumed playing local coffeehouses and taverns but now appears as a solo artist. In July, Miller entered the studio to record his first solo record, “Epiphany by Degrees,” which was released in August.

“The whole album turned out to be a conceptual work, which wasn’t my original intent,” Miller says. “It’s centered around themes like finding yourself after sorting through the fragmented wreckage of ambiguous and failed relationships.”

Blues, jazz, rock and folk are some of the different styles heard woven into Miller’s soulful debut. With influences ranging from Fats Weller to Dire Straits, it’s not hard to understand why.

“I grew up listening to rock ‘n’ roll. And my father playing jazz his whole life, so I was influenced by that, and it just kind of all gets mixed together,” Miller says.

Miller’s father, Lloyd, makes a guest appearance on “Epiphany by Degrees,” lending his tenor sax on two songs. When he can find time in his busy teaching schedule at Des Moines Area Community College, Lloyd contributes to his son’s live shows as well. He also contributed to Accidental Sisters material when Sam was a member.

Sam Miller’s true love in the music business is the opportunity to play live. He doesn’t like to play anything the same way twice, and playing in front of an audience gives him the opportunity to try out new things while performing.

“It’s relaxing, and it’s motivational,” Miller says. “And it feels pretty good when the people pay you to play in response — it’s just an affirmation of what you’re doing.”

Copies of Miller’s record, “Epiphany by Degrees,” are available for purchase at shows, as well as at Border’s Books and Music in Des Moines and Peeples Music in Ames and Des Moines.