Nashville is a storied city in the most literal sense - a place built on imagination, interpretation, and narration. Alongside the songs and songwriters, journalists have played an under-rated role in building the idea and brand and renown of Music City. I got up to speed in this town reading Robert K. Oermann, Chet Flippo, Bill Friskics-Warren and other greats. But in the 21st century so far, nobody’s written the Music City story with more depth, discernment and humor than author, reporter, songwriter, producer and baseball fanatic Peter Cooper, who died on Tuesday at the age of 52.
Article Contributed by KG Music Press | Published on Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Jon Byrd plays “what they used to call Country Music.” Born in Birmingham, Alabama, he grew up in the piney woods of south Alabama before becoming pivotal in Atlanta’s storied Redneck Underground music scene. He was always a featured sideman, but his first solo recording (
Byrd’s Auto Parts 2007) didn’t happen until after he moved to Music City nearly 20 years ago. Since then he’s recorded 3 other full-length solo records
Down at the Well of Wishes (2011),
Route 41 (2014), and
Dirty Ol’ River (2017).
He was a featured vocalist on the Red Beet Records Grammy-nominated I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow (alongside Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Bobby Bare, and Tom T. himself). His albums have been lauded by Mojo Magazine, Maverick Magazine and R2, and Jewly Hight of NPR’s World Café named Dirty Ol’ River some of the “Best Music of 2017” with Byrd bei