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EPK

    James Miles is a singer-songwriter based in the metro Denver, Colorado area.  He was active in the Phoenix, Arizona music scene for 20 years and moved to Denver in 2013.  In 2003 he released his first solo album, Soul To Keep, which Get Out Magazine chose as one of the year's top ten local releases.  Then, in 2004, came Seven of Swords, another solo effort that recalls the work of artist Elliott Smith.  

    Miles' was also a part of Phoenix area bands The Heartgraves, Wormwood Brothers, and Thee Jaguar Sharks.  

    In July 2020 Miles has released his third solo album Strange Gold, an album of deft songcraft.  This new album draws heavily from folk and roots music.  The album is available at:  http://jamesmileshq.bandcamp.com/album/strange-gold

    Curious?  Try Rose in A Tomb:  https://jamesmileshq.bandcamp.com/track/rose-in-a-tomb







Contact:  Email to tresjames (at) gmail.com

Press Quotes:

James Miles, ‘Soul To Keep’
On “Soul to Keep,” singer/songwriter James Miles tries his hand successfully at pop rock, country, breezy jazz and introspective ballads with a melodic sensibility that links the disparate genres together. That he performed nearly every instrument on the album as well as producing and engineering the whole shebang makes it all the more impressive.
Get Out Magazine  (2003)
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James Miles
‘Seven of Swords’

James Miles doesn’t have a lot of tricks up his sleeve on his second solo album “Seven of Swords,” but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Once the body behind the hardened guitar rock band Propeller, he’s shifted gears on this disc, embracing the pared down dynamics of his acoustic guitar and great internal instrument — his boyishly ambitious voice.

Miles dives right in, crooning breathlessly in true Elliot Smith-style on principal track, “Look You in the Eye”: “I’m crossing town with my head held down, ’cause I don’t know what to do/ Gonna walk real far, past the Emerald Bar, ’til I see your point of view.” Then he does one better and masterfully covers a previously unreleased Smith tune, “Hangin’ Out With Me,” matching the late songwriter’s ticklish guitar twang to a tee.

The soft truths evinced on “Nowhere is a Place” echo with knowing lonesomeness, like those written by Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen. Through and through, this is a sturdy recording of guitar-led gems that hint at an emerging songwriting talent. B  Get Out Magazine, 05/06/04  Jenna Duncan
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‘Listen Up’ – Phoenix New Times, June 3 – 9, 2004.  Serene Dominic

Recently, Jim Miles left the Heartgraves, and the time alone has made his songwriting several shades darker, freeing him up to explore strange English folk chords that probably haven’t been used since Jimmy Page’s pact with the devil still had a few years to run.  He even chased down the Elliott Smith estate for permission to record an unreleased song, “Hangin’ Out With Me,” which turns out to be the most chipper entry on Miles’ second solo album, Seven of Swords.  It’s a quiet, brooding batch of compositions, with Miles’ voice carrying a cross between Smith’s interpersonal torture and Jon Brion’s pretty-boy harmonies.
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Phoenix New Times, Ear Infection, by Brendan Joel Kelley, Mar. 14, 2007:
Due to space limitations in the print version of New Times, there are a lot of local records that we can’t fit into the music section. That’s why here, on Ear Infection, I try to turn you on or steer you away from certain acts and albums.

The latest truly stellar album I’ve gotten is by Wormwood Brothers, entitled Spider Lake. The band calls its music “dustcore,” which is an appropriate description for this desert/country assemblage of depressing drinking songs. It’s not what I’d call “y’all-ternative;” it sticks to traditional styles ranging from early Neil Young to modern purveyors of the sound like My Morning Jacket. Here are a couple of my favorites:

“Trigger Happy”:

“Just Like John Lennon Said”

Related Bands / Projects:





 

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