Information/Write-up
Lynn Miles Invites You to Her TumbleWeedyWorld
Preview the Ottawa singer-songwriter’s 16th album with the single “Highway 105”
By Darryl Sterdan – January 11, 2023
Lynn Miles will introduce you to her TumbleWeedyWorld on her 16th studio album, arriving March 17 on True North Records, as the Ottawa singer-songwriter has just announced.
Over her remarkable career, Miles has earned a reputation as one of Canada’s most formidable songwriters. She has penned more than 900 songs and released 15 albums, collecting multiple Juno Awards and Canadian Folk Music Awards along the way. Her work has been covered by numerous artists, including Claire Lynch on her Grammy-nominated album North by South. In addition to her songwriting, Miles is also a producer, professor, and public speaker — a paragon of excellence in everything she does.
You could say she’s reliable. But the songs on TumbleWeedyWorld are about the opposite: unreliability. They speak of shaky situations and moments when cracks begin to appear in everything.
“These are songs that arrive at a moment when global instability illuminated the fragility of personal relationships,” she explains. “They’re about impermanence — ‘I’m a lonesome drifting girl / In my tumbleweedyworld’. About incompatibility — ‘I wish you were a night owl, too’. About the left (Johnny Without June) and about the leaving (Hide Your Heart). About spiteful endings (All Bitter Never Sweet). About how those endings are never crystal clear, and the complications of regret:
‘All these years I’ve been carrying around this heart / There’s always been a tiny missing part / I couldn’t name it or maybe I wouldn’t dare / Cause I know I’d have to walk through fire to go back there’.”
These are songs about navigating life’s hurdles — dodging tumbleweeds, leaving stuck situations. On the surface, they’re “hurtin’ songs” about two people who can’t make things work. Dig deeper, and they’re about every kind of relationship where Sorry’s Just Not Good Enough.
TumbleWeedyWorld, like many Lynn Miles records, sounds the way a warm blanket feels. Her emotive, empathetic vocals are placed in acoustic arrangements that nod to pop, country, and bluegrass — without percussion. She’s supported by ace instrumentalists, but her voice remains front and center.
Boston singer-songwriter Ellis Paul puts it best:
“Lynn Miles has the kind of voice that insists you pull the car over. Call the radio station. Change your citizenship. Buy a home in Toronto.
She’s been blessed with such a drop-dead beautiful, honey-smooth voice that it’s impossible not to fall in love with it. It rides the ebb and flow of a gifted sense of melody. She’s the kind of lyricist who renders whatever heartache you feel into something both beautiful and aching.
She’s also extremely funny — like she’s carrying an antidote to inject between songs to cure you of the snake bite.”
Beyond music, Miles is a passionate advocate for mental health in the music community. She gave a presentation on the topic at the 2019 Folk Alliance International conference and has raised over $10,000 for charity through her annual “ugly sweater” raffles at Christmas shows. Her song What If You Were a Refugee supports organizations that aid migrants and refugees.
No Comments