SEPTEMBER 19
JONATHAN BYRD
Jonathan Byrd is a preacher's son, a Gulf War veteran, and a Kerrville New Folk award winner from seven generations of North Carolinians. A Jonathan Byrd show is musical theater, bringing together the Texas songwriting tradition with southern storytelling and hot guitar picking in the line of North Carolina greats Doc Watson and Tony Rice. A stalwart of modern folk music, Byrd has released five solo albums with a surprising variety of musical directions, and an acoustic collaboration with fellow songwriter Diana Jones. "One of the top 50 songwriters of the past 50 years." - Chicago Tribune.
“Cackalack” is the newest Jonathan Byrd release, an homage to his home state. Recorded live in a day while on the road, “Cackalack” hit #1 on Roots Music Reports folk radio chart, #22 on the Americana chart, was the #91 Americana album of 2011, and made John Platt's "Best of 2011," along with strong international airplay and a dozen other "best of" lists.
Most recently, Jonathan won a 2011 SESAC Americana Music Award beside Bob Dylan, Seth Avett, Hayes Carll, Jim Lauderdale, and Colin Brooks from The Band of Heathens.
“Jonathan Byrd's songs just slay me. After each one, I feel like I've been transported to another world, like I've just read a really great book." — Paige Travis, Tennessee Shines Radio Show, WDVX