Miles Zurawell

EPK

ARTIST BIO

Miles Zurawell is a multi-instrumentalist, performer and composer of acoustic music on dobro and banjo based in British Columbia, Canada. His debut full length album, Far Afield, will be released October 1st, 2023. Expressive, soaring and soulful, the record is an exploration of diverse modern and traditional acoustic instrumental music.

Born and raised in Ardrossan, Alberta, Miles Zurawell was exposed to a diversity of acoustic music through the Canadian folk music scene. A pianist and guitarist in his formative years, he discovered the dobro, banjo and the bluegrass of Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs through a university biology professor in 2011. Leaving the biology profession aside, he studied with dobro masters Ivan Rosenberg, Billy Cardine, and Mike Witcher. For more than a decade he has performed and toured internationally with acclaimed bluegrass, old-time, and roots artists including Zachary Lucky, Greg Blake, John Lowell, Blaine Sprouse, and more.

Having grown up in the Canadian prairies mostly isolated from the bluegrass playing community and American dobro players, Miles has developed a unique voice on the instrument. During the last five years living on the west coast of Canada, he’s been taking inspiration from the melodic approach of players local to the Pacific Northwest such as John Reischman and becoming interested in fiddling traditions beyond bluegrass that are more often heard on the coast. Rather than stick to well-trodden bluegrass territory, he began exploring what tunes from Appalachian old-time, celtic, Quebecois, and Métis traditions could sound like on dobro and 5-string banjo, as well as delving into the roots of slide guitar music from Hawaiian to western swing. Along with his long track record as an accompanist for song-writers, what has emerged from this exploration of diversity is an instrumentalist with a distinct musical voice.

MUSIC

ALBUM BIO

On Far Afield, Zurawell’s original dobro and banjo compositions sit alongside material ranging from Appalachian, Quebecois, Métis, and bluegrass fiddle tunes to western swing and Hawaiian slide guitar. Produced by Trent Freeman of Juno award-winning group The Fretless, an acclaimed group of musicians were assembled at Afterlife Studios in Vancouver along with Miles including: John Reischman (mandolin - John Reischman and the Jaybirds), Eli West (guitar & clawhammer banjo), Robert Alan Mackie (bass - Bella White, Aerialists), Adam Iredale-Gray (guitar - Aerialists, Fish & Bird), and producer Trent Freeman (fiddle). The group achieved an acoustic stringband sound distinct to the Pacific Northwest by focusing on melodic improvisation, groove, playing off of each other and together. The album also features a variety of arrangements: the sound of the full band can be heard on tracks such as Far Afield and Follow the Boot, a dobro and bass duet on Elk River Blues, a unique strings and dobro arrangement of January Waltz and solo dobro on Protestant Creature.

Equal parts soaring and soulful, the album showcases Miles Zurawell’s unique musical voice on dobro and banjo. Taking inspiration from traditional fiddling of multiple North American styles, the group used bluegrass arrangement and playing techniques to explore a diversity of music. Rather than sticking to bluegrass standards, Far Afield takes a leap into new territory for the dobro by pulling from Appalachian old-time, Quebecois, Métis, Hawaiian, and western swing repertoire. That being said, the bluegrass roots of Miles Zurawell’s playing can still be found on the rousing original compositions Follow the Boot and the title track, Far Afield.

PHOTOS