For Jon Byrd, his music is country. The Country side is how he hears his songs and is based a little on geography. Jon Byrd was born in Alabama and time in the Deep South has left its imprint on his words and ways. To the listener, the sound stretches beyond the borders and does not come close to what passes for country music in 2012. There are gentle sways, heartfelt warbling and honest delivery of words and music. Sure, that can be found in big hat country but it gets so polished up that it is impossible to see you self in the glossy reflection unless you are a teenager or living your life as a memory. Jon Byrd scribes today and when he reflects on the past, the memories are filtered through the gift of age, seeing what is looking back at the man in a real time mirror.
Jon Byrd has released Down at the Well of Wishes, its nine tracks expanding on the go-to sideman’s debut, 2007’s Byrd’s Auto Parts, that album title taken from the collection of in-demand studio players who lined up to lend a hand. Down at the Well of Wishes continues on the same studio theme and the list of friends on board matches the A-list names on the debut with Shannon and Adam Wright (The Wrights), Milan Miller (Patty Loveless, Grayson Capps, Gary Bennett), Pat Severs (Bill Anderson, The Everly Brothers), Marty Lynds (Marah, Last Train Home), Ed Adkins (The Derailers), and Jimmy Lester (Webb Wilder, Los Straightjackets) all taking part in the project captured under the production work of R.S. Field (Billy Joe Shaver, Sonny Landreth, Justin Townes Earle).
Down at the Well of Wishes tells tales of when Jon’s home state tried to reinstitute the chain gang (“Alabama Asphalt”), digs into memories of women, remembering how the their paths took a turn at the hand of another (“I Once Knew A Woman”), traces personal journeys (“Easy to Be Free”) and strips back flesh to keep wounds fresh (“In A Chest of Skin and Bones”). There is country in the sound blurred by his intuitive Americana and Folk influences. Jon’s vocal falls into a Phil Ochs style warble that gives his delivery additional warmth.
Jon Byrd's songs have appeared on three Red Beet Records compilations and his voice can be
heard in duet with Amelia White on "Morning Song," highlighted on Amelia's 2009 recording, Motorcycle Dream. Jon's composition "Silent Night" appeared on Master Sessions, an Eric Brace and Peter Cooper recording that featured steel guitar legend Lloyd Green. In 2001 Jon's voice was heard on the Grammy and Americana Music Association nominated I Love: Tom T. Hall's Songs Of Fox Hollow, a tribute to Hall that included Buddy Miller, Patti Griffin, Jim Lauderdale, Lloyd Green, Elizabeth Cook, Duane Eddy and Bobby Bare.
The title track on Down at the Well of Wishes see that “change is hard to come by if the well has run dry and you are only some guy who needs change.” The music of Jon Byrd does not offer a huge change but is separates him from just being some guy with a guitar and a song and presents a Country Folk singer with the talent to take him beyond wishes.
More information on Jon Byrd can be found on his website.
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