In terms of delivery, imagine Bob Dylan with an even bigger ego, and a decent voice.
Anyway, his guitar playing is quite good, and he'll definitely remind people of some of Dylan's older stuff, mainly in his delivery. I'd describe his voice as honest, which is a good thing. From what I've read, guy has a bit of an attitude problem, (And also a major drinking problem) that may prevent him from truly breaking out, but it's not like Dylan-inspired folk has a chance at getting mainstream any time soon. Getting back to that "Honest" voice, it also carries over into his lyrics. He curses often, and while that's a rarity in folk, it suits him. A lot of his songs are critical of his life; this type of self-reference usually falls flat on its face because most singers are in love with themselves, Miles isn't. With his approach to song-writing being mostly filled with self-disappointment and failures, he comes off as having a level of, again, honesty--sort of like when Lou Reed made Heroin with The Velvet Underground. Take this lyric from Buriedfed for example, where Miles depicts his own mental funeral:
"This is my last song about myself, about my friends,
Found something else to sing.
Try and patch it up with tape and twine,
Maybe I'll just break everything that's mine.
They wheeled out my casket,
They said, "Boy, lay down your head"
I said, "Aw shit, man, I ain't even dead"
I won't be buried for I'm...
My friend, who's a real yo-yo
She's always crying, and no one knows why
She's gonna be alright
Lost her past in a fuzzy fire
Wasn't even drunk, just a little tired last night
And they took her to the doctor
To fix her heart, and heal her head
She said, "Goddamn, I'm tired of being polite
Go save somebody else"
This song is the one that really got me listening to his record a lot more. There's a weird skip after the first verse that was probably not noticed in the mixing, (I don't see how, but whatever) and that takes a bit getting used to, but that aside, it's a great record.
(No stupid comments please...I list very explicitly what type of music this is...so don't be mad at me if you're not into it.)
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