PRESS RELEASE:
Jonathan Byrd is a seventh-generation Carolinian, son of a preacher father and piano-playing mother, a Navy veteran, and a songwriter whose lean and closely observed songs are creating quite a buzz. He and the Pickup Cowboys, who Byrd calls his “chamber twang” band, are currently on tour, with a stop scheduled at the White Horse Black Mountain on Friday, January 15 at 8 p.m.
Following his Navy hitch Jonathan Byrd returned home to play in rock bands, but after attending a Virginia old-time fiddle festival his sound began to shift toward a rootsier style as he assimilated Southern traditional music. He used the ancient sounds as the foundation for his new songs; stark, sharp vignettes telling complex stories with wry humor and origin imagery. After ten years of touring and seven highly praised albums, Byrd is a singer and songwriter whose time has definitely come.
The Pickup Cowboys are Johnny Waken (electric guitar, mandolin, saw, harmonica, washboard, banjo, harmony vocals) and Paul Ford (cello). In 2006 the two musicians joined the Paperhand Puppet Intervention, a troupe featuring giant puppets, stilt walkers and live music, and both joined forces with Byrd in 2009. Multi-instrumentalist Waken can shade the band’s sonic palette in a number of directions, from noir-ish electric guitar tremolo to folksy sparkle. Byrd claims that Waken has “got more rock’n’roll in his mustache than most major cities”. Ford and his creative cello lines have been missing from the stage recently as he battles stage four brain cancer, and upcoming Chapel Hill benefit for him sold out as friends and fans showed their support.
Show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 advance/$12 door.
Advance tickets available online at:
http://www.whitehorseblackmountain.com
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.