Josie Miles CDs

Document Records have 2 Josie Miles CDs in it's back catalogue, with 4 other CDs that include tracks by her. If you wish to buy the Josie Miles CDs please click the links below.










Josie Miles Volume 1










Josie Miles Volume 2










Female Blues 1921 - 1928










Gospel Classics Vol 3 1924 - 1942










Classic Blues & Vaudeville Singers Vol 5 1922 - 1930









Female Blues The Remaining Titles 1922 - 1927


We only have a few details about the life of Josie Miles. She was born in Summerville, South Carolina, around c. 1900.
Josie moved to New York in the early 1920s, touring briefly in 1922 with Blake and Sissle's musical comedy 'Shuffle Along', a show that starred at one time or another the likes of Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson. Miles then began her recording career with Harry Pace's Black Swan Records who boasted Fletcher Henderson as musical director. Her voice seems to be throaty, wide vibrato, performed in a light
but forceful delivery which worked well with solid musicians like Fletcher Henderson. She remained with Black Swan until 1923, one year before Paramount took over and put an end to the only record company owned by African American stockholders, which paved the way for Miles' to release records on Paramount. During 1923 she toured with the Black Song  Troubadours, played theatre dates in Ohio, appeared in James P. Johnson's Runnin' Wild (which introduced the Charleston dance routine) in New York and performed for WDT Radio in New York.
This year also found her moving labels, first to Gennett, then Ajax, followed by Edison and ending with Banner in 1924. Her pop/ blues recording career ended with Banner in 1925, but a in 1928 she recorded for Gennet again this time as Missionary Josephine Miles (also released under the name Evangelist Mary Flowers. After this she settled in Kansas City, MO, devoting most of her energies to the church that she attended.
Josie Miles died in the 50s or 60s, reportedly in a car crash. Miles has left behind over 50 recordings, under nine different names, on sixteen different record labels.