@mira.alves

Lisbon-born, Boston-based; gigs at Wally's Cafe and teaches at Berklee CCE. Brought the HSS Strat home in 2011 after a year of borrowing a Tele from her teacher. Has strong opinions about the Soul Food and isn't afraid to share them in the forum.

The Deluxe Reverb came from a Craigslist trade for an SG she never bonded with. The HSS Strat is the only modified guitar on the board — locking tuners and a graph nut, but otherwise factory.

Born in Lisbon in 1987, raised in Alfama by her grandmother after her parents divorced. Moved to Boston in 2009 on a Berklee scholarship, intended to stay two years, never left. Lives in a Jamaica Plain triple-decker with her husband, a high-school Spanish teacher, and a six-year-old daughter who is learning ukulele under protest. Teaches three nights a week through Berklee CCE — mostly adult returners, the occasional ringer. Gigs at Wally's on Thursdays and subs around town the rest of the week. Still calls her grandmother every Sunday morning, Lisbon time.

Classical guitar at the Academia de Amadores de Musica from age eight, two recitals a year in itchy dresses. Switched to electric at 14 after hearing a Robben Ford record at a cousin's apartment — sold the nylon-string within a month. Studied with a Lisbon jazz guitarist who made her transcribe Grant Green solos by ear before he'd teach her a single chord shape. At Berklee she gravitated toward the R&B and gospel players, sat in at every jam she could find. Toured for eighteen months in 2015-16 with a Boston soul singer who had a minor European following, came home broke and wiser. Now mostly sideman work and her own Thursday trio — Hammond, drums, and her.