Mya Byrne

Last updated

Mya Byrne
MyaByrne-SXSW2022.jpg
Background information
Born (1978-03-01) March 1, 1978 (age 46)
Origin Maplewood, New Jersey, United States
Genres folk, americana, country, punk
Occupation(s)poet, singer, song writer
InstrumentsVocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo, Lap Steel, bass guitar
Years active2003–present
Labels Kill Rock Stars
Website MyaByrne.com

Mya Adriene Byrne [1] is an American singer-songwriter whose works falls mostly in the Americana vein, a combination of folk, blues and country music. Based in New York for 13 years, Byrne currently resides in Brooklyn after 8 years in the San Francisco Bay Area and performs solo or with various bands on both coasts. [2] [3] In 2014, Byrne publicly announced her transgender status and transition [4] and has continued to work as a musician and performer.

Contents

She is the granddaughter of anaesthesiology pioneer Philip H. Sechzer.

Career

Over her career, Byrne has opened for acts such as Steve Forbert, Railroad Earth, Jack Hardy Heartless Bastards, Rae Spoon, Greensky Bluegrass, Levon Helm, Pansy Division, Team Dresch, and Suzanne Vega.

In 2004, Byrne released her debut EP Dawn. She participated in the new song competition at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival, and was the recipient of a PLUS Award from ASCAP in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014.[ citation needed ]

She was the longtime host of a popular weekly open mike at Micky's Blue Room, and later, Banjo Jim's in Alphabet City, and was the lead guitarist in the Late Night band at Rockwood Music Hall from 2007 to 2009, performing weekly for most of its 18-month residency.[ citation needed ]

She released her first full-length album with The Ramblers in June 2008, with David Immergluck of Counting Crows on additional lead guitar. [5] In 2008, The Ramblers were the opening act for Levon Helm of The Band at the Midnight Ramble in Woodstock, New York in June, and again at the Woodstock Playhouse that September. [6]

In April 2010, The Ramblers released their second CD at Joe's Pub. [7] In September 2010, Byrne played lead guitar with Kent Burnside, grandson of R.L. Burnside, at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago. The Ramblers also headlined Mercury Lounge that month. [8] In October 2010, The Ramblers showcased at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, where they were noted as "Artists to Watch" by The Jazz Lawyer blog. [9]

In July 2011, The Ramblers opened for Heartless Bastards at Mercury Lounge. Later that summer, they appeared at the Great South Bay and Port Jefferson Music Festivals.[ citation needed ] In January 2012, Byrne was the co-director for the Beatles Complete on Ukulele Festival at Brooklyn Bowl, alongside festival founder Roger Greenawalt, and another performance that March at South By Southwest. [10] In 2012, Byrne became endorsed by D'Addario Strings. In February of that year, Byrne suffered a vocal hemorrhage. [11]

By August, she had recovered enough to begin touring again behind her first solo acoustic record, Lucky, and subsequently appeared as a feature artist on John Platt's show on WFUV. [12] The album reached No. 31 on the Roots Music Report charts for NY-based artists by January 2013.[ citation needed ]

In 2014, Byrne was named by New Jersey alternative music newspaper The Aquarian Weekly as one of the 30 most promising acts of 2014 [13] and was chosen to compete in the WNYC "Battle of the Boroughs", [14] and to perform as a showcase artist at the prestigious Northeast Regional Folk Alliance conference. [15]

Later in 2014, after she announced her transition on her blog, [4] Byrne gave interviews to Sing Out! and WFDU-FM radio, [11] and her poetry was featured in The Advocate . [16] In the summer of 2014, she performed at Rockwood Music Hall, the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, and Montclair CenterStage. [17]

Since 2014, Byrne has written several op-eds for The Advocate and Huffington Post on trans lives. [18] [19] [20] [21] She started as a staff writer for Country Queer magazine in 2020. [22]

In 2015, Byrne was named an Emerging Artist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, performing on the mainstage, and released her first solo full-length album, "As I Am". She was the first-place Americana winner in the 2015 Great American Song Contest, and appeared at the 2016 Philadelphia Folk Festival and again at Falcon Ridge. In 2016, her short story "Chain of Rocks" was published in The James Franco Review , selected by guest editor Ryka Aoki. [23] In 2017, she performed at the San Francisco Trans March, and in early 2018, the Ms. San Francisco Leather contest.

Her music was also featured in "[Trans]formation", a new play on trans identity, in collaboration with The Living Canvas in Chicago. [24]

Byrne formerly played bass and wrote songs for The Homobiles, a San Francisco-based queercore band fronted by Lynn Breedlove (formerly of Tribe 8), and Lavender Country, founded in 1973 and recognised by the Country Music Hall of Fame as the world's first openly gay country music band. She has also written songs and played lead guitar with the queer country band Secret Emchy Society.

In June 2019, Byrne headlined Berkeley Pride, and performed solo on the main stage of the San Francisco Dyke March.

In October 2021, Byrne composed and recorded the theme music for Amazon Music's Country Heat Weekly podcast, hosted by Kelly Sutton. [25] [26]

In January 2022, Byrne was named one of twelve artists to watch in 2022 by Nashville Scene and CMT. [27]

In Sep 2022 Mya announced her signing to Kill Rock Stars in Rolling Stone [28] and in January 2023 announced her debut for the imprint, “Rhinestone Tomboy”. [29] [30]

Related Research Articles

Country is a music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is primarily focused on singing stories about working-class and blue-collar American life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmylou Harris</span> American singer, songwriter, and musician

Emmylou Harris is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is recognized for having a consistent artistic direction. Harris is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana genre in the 1990s. Her music united both country and rock audiences in live performance settings. Her characteristic voice, musical style and songwriting have been acclaimed by critics and fellow recording artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucinda Williams</span> American musician (born 1953)

Lucinda Gayl Williams is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, Ramblin' on My Mind (1979) and Happy Woman Blues (1980), in a traditional country and blues style that received critical praise but little public or radio attention. In 1988, she released her third album, Lucinda Williams, to widespread critical acclaim. Regarded as "an Americana classic", the album also features "Passionate Kisses", a song later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter for her 1992 album Come On Come On, which garnered Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994. Known for working slowly, Williams released her fourth album, Sweet Old World, four years later in 1992. Sweet Old World was met with further critical acclaim and was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent music critics. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list, later writing that the album as well as Lucinda Williams were "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mya (singer)</span> American singer and actress (born 1979)

Mya Marie Harrison, known professionally as Mýa, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, and actress. Classified as a "triple threat entertainer," she was born in Washington D.C. and studied ballet, jazz, and tap dance as a child. Her career began in television as a dance posse member, performing on BET's Teen Summit. She signed with record executive A. Haqq Islam's University Records, an imprint of Interscope Records to release her eponymous debut studio album (1998), which lyrically explored romance and coming-of-age scenarios. Met with critical and commercial success, the album was led by her first single, "It's All About Me", which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Her collaborative singles — "Girls Dem Sugar", "Ghetto Supastar ", and "Take Me There" — were also met with commercial success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altan (band)</span> Irish folk music band

Altan are an Irish folk music band formed in County Donegal in 1987 by lead vocalist Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her husband Frankie Kennedy. The group were primarily influenced by traditional Irish language songs from Donegal and have sold over a million records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrie Underwood</span> American singer (born 1983)

Carrie Marie Underwood is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Underwood's single "Inside Your Heaven" (2005) made her the first country artist to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the only solo country artist in the 2000s to have a number-one song on the Hot 100. Her debut album, Some Hearts (2005), was bolstered by the successful crossover singles "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Before He Cheats", and became the best-selling debut album of all time by a solo female country artist. She won three Grammy Awards for the album, including Best New Artist. Her next studio album, Carnival Ride (2007), had one of the biggest opening weeks of all time by a female artist and won two Grammy Awards. Her third studio album, Play On (2009), produced the single "Cowboy Casanova", which had one of the biggest single-week upward movements on the Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Crow Medicine Show</span> Americana string band based in Tennessee

Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, Remedy, released in 2014, won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The group's music has been called old-time, folk, and alternative country. Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallas Smith</span> Canadian musician

Dallas Hendry Smith is a Canadian singer and songwriter, who performs both as a solo country music artist and as lead singer for the hard rock band Default. He is currently signed to Big Loud Records. Smith is the current record holder of most number one hits among all male Canadian artists on Billboard's Canada Country chart, at eleven. With Side Effects, Smith also became the first Canadian country artist in the Nielsen BDS era to chart four consecutive number one singles from one album, a feat he would then top with his next album, Timeless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Machine Records</span> American record label

Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive David Gould and became a joint venture between Borchetta and country singer Toby Keith. The purchase of Big Machine Records by Scooter Braun's company, Ithaca Holdings, in 2019 resulted in a highly publicized dispute and controversy with American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift regarding the ownership of the masters to her albums for the label.

"Crazy Arms" is an American country song which was a career-making hit for Ray Price. The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a number 1 country hit that year, establishing Price's sound, and redefining honky-tonk music. It was Price's first No. 1 hit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Ell</span> Canadian-American country music singer

Lindsay Elizabeth Ell is a Canadian-American country pop singer, songwriter, guitarist and television personality from Calgary, Alberta. Her music incorporates elements of rock and blues. She was signed to the US record label Stoney Creek Records, an imprint of Broken Bow Records. Her debut extended play, Worth the Wait, was released in March 2017. Her first full-length country album, The Project, was released in August 2017 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Album Sales chart. Since 2022, she has been the host of the revived Canada's Got Talent reality television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassadee Pope</span> American singer

Cassadee Blake Pope is an American pop and country singer. She was the lead vocalist and songwriter of the pop punk band Hey Monday, with whom she released one studio album and two EPs. Pope embarked on a solo career in early 2012 and released the EP Cassadee Pope in May 2012. She took part in the 3rd season of The Voice and became the first female winner in December 2012. Her debut solo country album, Frame by Frame, was released in 2013 to a top 10 Billboard 200 charting. It debuted at No. 1 on Top Country Albums, with 43,000 copies sold in its first week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhiannon Giddens</span> American musician (born 1977)

Rhiannon Giddens is an American musician known for her eclectic folk music. She is a founding member of the country, blues, and old-time music band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, where she was the lead singer, fiddle player, and banjo player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kacey Musgraves</span> American singer (born 1988)

Kacey Lee Musgraves is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began her career in the early 2000s, when she self-released three solo albums and recorded another album as a member of the duo Texas Two Bits. In 2007, Musgraves appeared on the fifth season of the USA Network singing competition Nashville Star, where she finished in seventh place. In 2012, she signed with Mercury Nashville and released the hit single "Merry Go 'Round". Her major-label debut studio album, Same Trailer Different Park (2013), won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winston Marshall</span> British musician (born 1987)

Winston Aubrey Aladar deBalkan Marshall is a British musician. He is best known as the former banjoist and lead guitarist of the folk rock band Mumford & Sons. Prior to this he was in the bluegrass sleaze rap group Captain Kick and the Cowboy Ramblers. With Mumford & Sons, Marshall won multiple awards, including a Grammy and two Brit Awards. He has performed music with different supergroups and collaborated with Baaba Maal and HVOB. After leaving Mumford & Sons, Marshall started an interview podcast with The Spectator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margo Price</span> American country music singer-songwriter (born 1983)

Margo Rae Price is an American country singer-songwriter, producer, and author based in Nashville. The Fader called her "country's next star." Her debut solo album Midwest Farmer's Daughter was released on Third Man Records on March 25, 2016. The album was recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, and was engineered by Matt Ross-Spang. The album was recorded in three days. On tour, she is backed by her band The Pricetags.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Tuttle</span> American musician

Molly Rose Tuttle is an American vocalist, songwriter, banjo player, guitarist, recording artist, and teacher in the bluegrass tradition. She is noted for her flatpicking, clawhammer, and crosspicking guitar prowess. She has cited Laurie Lewis, Kathy Kallick, Alison Krauss and Hazel Dickens as role models. In 2017, Tuttle was the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association's Guitar Player of the Year award. In 2018 she won the award again, along with being named the Americana Music Association's Instrumentalist of the Year. In 2023, Tuttle won the Best Bluegrass Album for Crooked Tree and also received a nomination for the all-genre Best New Artist award at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. Also in 2023, Tuttle and Golden Highway won International Bluegrass Music Awards for album Crooked Tree and the title track in the categories of Album of the Year and Song of the Year, respectively, while Tuttle won Female Vocalist of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Pruitt</span> American singer-songwriter

Katherine Nicole Pruitt is an American singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. Her debut album, Expectations, was released in 2020 by Rounder Records. Her second album, Mantras, was released in 2024.

<i>Denim & Rhinestones</i> 2022 studio album by Carrie Underwood

Denim & Rhinestones is the ninth studio album by American country music singer Carrie Underwood. The album was released on June 10, 2022, through Capitol Records Nashville. The album was recorded throughout the years of 2021 and 2022, with production from David Garcia, who previously produced Cry Pretty (2018) and My Savior (2021), with co-production from Underwood as well. The album entered the top ten in the United States, and the top 40 in Scotland, Australia, and Canada. It failed to enter the UK Albums Chart, but entered at number one on the UK Country Albums chart.

James Wilson, known professionally as Paisley Fields, is a queer country music artist based between Brooklyn, NY and Nashville, TN.

References

  1. ↑ "Mya Byrne On WFDU FM's TRADITIONS – June 16, 2014 by WFDU-Ron Olesko | Free Listening on SoundCloud". Soundcloud.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Mya Byrne". Missing Piece. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  3. ↑ "2 singer-songwriters decide tours are better together | Entertainment". Lancasteronline.com. October 17, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Coming out and challenging unfair laws". Mya Byrne. May 31, 2014. Archived from the original on January 11, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Come see The Ramblers at the Great South Bay Music Fest | Long Island Pulse Magazine". Lipulse.com. July 14, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Blips: Four Under The Radar Bands". Glide Magazine. January 21, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  7. ↑ Nate Schweber (April 9, 2010). "Maplewood's Birnbaum Traces Open Road to City Music Success | Maplewood, NJ Patch". Patch.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Pop Tarts Suck Toasted – Tonight! The Ramblers @ Mercury Lounge! THE". Poptarts.tumblr.com. September 25, 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  9. ↑ "CMJ 2010: Five Artists to Watch". The Jazz Lawyer. Archived from the original on January 11, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  10. ↑ "The Beatles Complete On Ukulele presents: The Beatles' 64 Greatest Hits – Tickets – Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, NY – January 14th, 2012". Brooklyn Bowl. January 14, 2012. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Mya Byrne – The Challenges Facing Transgender Artists and playlist for WFDU-FM's TRADITIONS for June 15, 2014". Sing Out!. June 16, 2014. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  12. ↑ "On Your Radar hosted by WFUV's John Platt". Gotham Jazz. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  13. ↑ "10 Must-See Bands For 2014 | The Aquarian Weekly". Theaquarian.com. January 22, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Battle of the Boroughs: Manhattan - Events". The Greene Space. February 7, 2014. Archived from the original on January 11, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  15. ↑ "NERFA Home Page". Nerfa.org. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  16. ↑ Kellaway, Mitch (July 5, 2014). "New Trans Voices: Hear From the Trans Poets Workshop NYC". Advocate.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  17. ↑ Gwen Orel and Cecelia Levine (August 7, 2014). "Outpost in the Burbs presents seven bands on Montclair's Center Stage – Music". NorthJersey.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  18. ↑ Adriene, Mya (December 10, 2014). "Op-ed: On Kate Pierson, and How Cultural Misrepresentation Hurts Trans Women". Advocate.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  19. ↑ Adriene, Mya (January 1, 2015). "Op-ed: We Need to Protect Our Trans Children". Advocate.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  20. ↑ Byrne, Mya Adriene (February 20, 2015). "Stop Letting Trans People Die". HuffPost. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  21. ↑ Byrne, Mya (August 31, 2016). "Dear Mark Ruffalo, Timothy McNeil And Matt Bomer: Why Is Matt Bomer Playing A Trans Woman?". HuffPost. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  22. ↑ "About". Country Queer. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Fiction by Mya Byrne". Thejamesfrancoreview.com. September 29, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  24. ↑ "[Trans]formation Program". The Living Canvas. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  25. ↑ Byrne, Mya (December 15, 2021). "Mya Byrne, Rhinestone Tomboy on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  26. ↑ Dowling, Marcus K (October 7, 2022). "Mya Byre on 'Autumn Sun', trans visibility, Nashville's Artemis Fest". The Tennessean. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  27. ↑ Trageser, Rachel Cholst, Abby Lee Hood, Edd Hurt, Lorie Liebig and Stephen (January 20, 2022). "Country Music Almanac 2022: 12 Artists to Watch in 2022". Nashville Scene. Retrieved January 22, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ↑ Freeman, Jon (September 8, 2022). "Mya Byrne Is Making Her Own Space in Nashville". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 8, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  29. ↑ Freeman, Jon (January 12, 2023). "Mya Byrne Introduces thee 'Rhinestone Tomboy' With New Album". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  30. ↑ Hight, Jewly (May 1, 2023). "How Mya Byrne paved her long, winding road to country music with grit and sparkle". NPR. Archived from the original on May 1, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.