Background
Miles was born in the town of Cowansville, Quebec. Her father was a harmonica player and jazz fan while her mother listened to both opera and country music
Miles was born in the town of Cowansville, Quebec. Her father was a harmonica player and jazz fan while her mother listened to both opera and country music
While in her twenties Miles studied voice with a private teacher and classical music history and theory at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Miles learned to play the violin, guitar, piano and flute during her school years. She began composing songs at the age of ten and began performing at the age of sixteen. Miles became a voice teacher at the Ottawa Folklore Centre.
Her first recording of original material was a nine song demo which she created in 1987.
In the early 1990s Miles released a self-titled album plus an additional recording called Chalk This One Up to the Moon. Her composition "Remembrance Day" became part of a nationally televised video created by the Canadian Armed Forces.
Miles" 1996 album, Slightly Haunted received favorable reviews in the New York Times and was a Billboard Top Ten Pick of the Year. In 1997 she released the album Night in a Strange Town.
Miles was nominated in 2005 for a Canadian Folk Music Awards.
In 2006 Miles recorded the album Love Sweet Love which was released in the United States. on Red House Records. lieutenant was recorded with guitarist Ian LeFeuvre and Keith Glass, drummer Peter Von Althen, John Geggiem on bass, James Stephens on violin. In 2009, the Art Of Time Ensemble featuring Sarah Slean recorded Miles" song, "Black Flowers."
Her 2010 album Fall for Beauty was nominated at the Juno Awards of 2011 in the Roots & Traditional Album of the year category.
Miles has re-recorded acoustic versions of her songs in a series called Black Flowers.
The first two volumes were produced in 2008 and 2009 on her Cold Girl record label and later re-released by True North Records in 2009. A third volume was released in August 2012.
New York Times music critic, John Pareles wrote that Miles" music "makes forlorn feel like a state of grace." In 2014 she produced the Lynne Hanson album River of Sand. Miles lived in Ottawa and Nashville, Tennessee before moving to Los Angeles in 1997.
She moved to Austin, Texas before returning to her home country of Canada.
She has received multiple awards including the Juno Award and three Canadian Folk Music Awards. Miles" reunited with collaborator and guitarist Ian LeFeuvre for her 2001 album, Unravel, which won the 2003 Juno award for Best Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Solo. lieutenant was nominated for a 2006 Juno Award.
Discography Lynn Miles, (cassette demo) 1987 Chalk This One Up to the Moon, 1991 Slightly Haunted, 1996 Night in a Strange Town, 1997 Unravel, 2001 Love Sweet Love, 2006 Black Flowers, Volume 1, 2008 Lynn Miles: Live at the Chapel, 2009 Black Flowers, Volume 2, 2009 Fall for Beauty, 2010 Black Flowers, Volume 3, 2012 Downpour, 2013 Black Flowers, Volume 4, 2014.