Bands & Activities

Lynn Miles

Friday, June 17th - - 8:15pm

Friday, June 17th - - 9:30pm

There is something to be said for experience, for taking the time to grow into your own skin. All sturdy things need time to root firmly into the ground to find their strength. Lynn Miles is one of Canada's most accomplished singer/songwriters. With seven albums to her credit, the winner of multiple Canadian Folk Music Awards, and a 2003 Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Solo Album of the Year, she has certainly found her strength over time.

Through a career that has seen her move from Ottawa to Los Angeles and back again, with stops in Nashville and Austin, she has always written music with unbridled feeling and vulnerability. Miles has consistently been unflinching in putting herself out there. Now with her eighth studio offering Fall For Beauty the voice of her experience has truly elevated her songwriting to its richest depth of emotion.

While her melodies undulate between traditional country and folk roots, on Fall For Beauty, it's her sensitivity to the world around her that pours itself directly into Miles' music to make it stand out. “Love Doesn't Hurt” was written as an emotional plea for people in abusive relationships. “I wrote this song after watching Oprah do a show about domestic violence. She kept repeating "love doesn't hurt", and even though I've written plenty of songs about how emotionally painful love can be, I wanted to put this crucial idea right up there beside my other songs, for balance, and clarity.” says Miles. “I've been playing the song live and have been approached by several people who work at women's shelters who tell me it's a powerful song, and that they want to play it for their clients. There's no better compliment than that.”

Therein is the powerful secret behind Miles' music - her astute observations of life, its trials and triumphs, are the hallmark of sincerity in her music. The gritty honesty of her music never falters – neither does her unshakeable ability to make even the most melancholy lyrics sound as if they are brimming with hope and grace. “Little Bird” infuses her lyrics with an assertive and encouraging voice. “I wrote this song after reading "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" by Gabor Mate. It's the best book on addiction and articulates the need for compassion when dealing with addictions. The song about what I call The X Factor, the initial source of pain that can cause a person to seek solace in alcohol and drugs.”

Lynn Miles is a musician in the rarest sense of the word, an unmistakable talent, an eye for both the subtle and sweet that can only be unearthed with experience.