Zack Miles

      An eastern Tennessee native, Zack Miles blends a unique, intricate finger-picking style with modern folk.  With introspective and self-deprecating lyrics reminiscent of Death Cab for Cutie or Modest Mouse, Miles delivers these lyrics with a melodic, agile, and proficient guitar style.  "It makes for intricate, ethereal compositions when he composes parts around his own lyrics, and his voice resonates with the deep ache of a man who seeks redemption and salvation on the summit of a distant peak." -Steve Wildsmith, Maryville Daily Times.  At a live show, you can expect an engaging, intimate experience that will take the listener to the places Miles has been and the people he's met along the way.  

       Miles' first full length album was released in the spring of 2015.  Northern Camp is a more traditional folk album compared to later releases.  The album maintains a calm, tranquil vocal style paired with aggressive, yet precise guitar compositions.  Recorded alone with an acoustic guitar over the course of two days in a friend's home that was currently under construction, the finished product represents the quiet, cold, surroundings that the songs were recorded in.  Songs such as Raised by Wolves and Relocation represent the general theme of the album.  It doesn't matter how long you are away from the place you call home, your friends will always pick up where you left off, and the places you love aren't the same without the people you love.  The most recent release, Sights We Rarely See, introduces an ethereal, sweeping electric guitar, synths, and subtle electronic percussion.  The album's style can be compared to more modern indie folk, and is often contrasted by his signature, more traditional finger-picking acoustic guitar style.  “I was trying to progress as a guitar player to start out with, and I didn’t want to make another ‘listen-to-how-fast-this-guy-can-fingerpick’ album,” says Miles.   Sights We Rarely See catalogs his time spent on Catoosa, a Wildlife Management Area located in the Cumberland and Morgan counties of Tennessee.  From long, humid summer days spent on a mountain bike, to summer and fall evenings spent putting hay up into the barns, to the winter nights spent huddled around a campfire, the album is a representation of a truly unique east Tennessee experience.