Fayetteville, North Carolina native and an award-winning singer/songwriter Jonathan Byrd has been releasing great albums for the better part of 20 years – eight albums in total from 2001 – 2019. After many years of heavy touring, Byrd returned home to Chapel Hill NC to begin work on his new album in his recording studio. Byrd collaborated with his closest musical friends, Johnny Waken (guitar, multi-instrumental) and Paul Ford (cello), both from the Pickup Cowboys. On the last day of recording, Ford stayed home, complaining of the flu and by the end of the day his doctor had discovered a terminal brain tumor. Ford never returned to recording studio and passed away the following year. The loss of a close friend put the album on hold for a year, but ultimately Byrd felt that the songs deserved to be heard. Byrd then went to Winnipeg to finish the album with Joanna Miller (drums) and Alexa Dirks and Andrina Turenne on backing vocals. What resulted are elevated campfire songs about the real America, inspired by a nomadic underground musical community that shares and passes along communally composed songs. Album highlights include: the portrait of hard-times on “Pickup Cowboy”; the honky-tonky “Tractor Pull”; the bittersweet “It Don’t Make Sense”; the tale of a risky business decisions on “When the Well Runs Dry”; the fanciful yet affecting “We Used to Be Birds”; and the impassioned “Lakota Sioux.” Jonathan Byrd and the Pickup Cowboys is a well-crafted, honest, warm-hearted collection of songs about America’s Heartland that is not to be missed. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Malcolm Holcombe, Will Kimbrough, Phil Lee, Scott Miller, David Olney