“When I was eight my family moved to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea so my Dad could teach at a theological college on a small, rural campus. My first song was written there, up a big tree outside the house, a place where I spent many hours content and alone. I remember feeling then that I wanted to make records.”



And so she has. A small town British Columbia native, Miriam Jones has written and recorded on the Nova Scotia coast, in Nashville (her family heritage) and England where she has since settled. After putting together her first solo acoustic album in 2007, Jones hit the home of Country Music to work with Grammy-award nominee Charlie Peacock. Her vocal lilt may lend itself naturally to the Grand Ole Opry, but the resulting album, ‘Being Here’ (2009), comes off as anything but a cookie-cutter, session-player phone-in, its mixture of Folk-Pop stylings and classic song writing redolent of the greats of early 70’s southern California with its intimate, soulful and unvarnished performances. CBC Radio One described it as ‘a fun, sometimes poignant, and entirely enjoyable effort from one of the West Coast's rising young artists,’ and one of the tracks landed a spot in CTV's 'Falcon Beach' drama. Over the years Jones has continued her contributions in the realm of film and TV, often fashioning bespoke songs inspired by the specific characters or plot-lines.
 

‘Fire-lives’, the follow-up album recorded in Oxford, pushed the music in a more contemporary direction and resulted in her first UK national press coverage and radio play (BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music), along with an invitation from the BBC in 2011 to appear as their local-artist-to-look-out-for pick at Cornbury Festival.
 

Her new record ‘Between Green and Gone’ (due out in January 2015) is a concise collection of poignant short stories in song form, narratives brought perfectly to life through a creative partnership with Simon Edwards (Fairground Attraction, Billy Bragg, David Gray), who as well as producing the new songs became the first member of a new touring ensemble. The album contains ten four-minute tales from the school of Anne Tyler and Raymond Carver, delivered with a grit and warmth that puts Jones firmly in the Bonnie Raitt and Joan Osborne class of tough but soulful exponents of North American roots music.



‘Fire-lives could easily have followed Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill.’
Oxford Music Scene

‘Being Here’ is a fun, sometimes poignant, and entirely enjoyable effort from one of the West Coast's rising young artists.’
North By Northwest, CBC Radio One

‘I defy anyone not to be charmed by the sheer naturalness of the melodies…'
Oxfordbands Review
 

Influences: The Beach Boys, Beatles, Phil Collins, Counting Crows, the Cranberries, Rufus Wainwright, Sting, Oliver! Annie.