Trans & Nonbinary Pride Shabbat Guest Speaker - Mya Byrne

Playing Americana steeped with potent branches of blues, rock, glam and country music, Mya Byrne is every bit the voice of the outsider that built the foundation of the genre, where we behold stages beaming with the light of those who are so willing to stand tall and confident in the entirety of their truth. Here Byrne stands too. Americana has many champions, but there are scarce few like Byrne; a queer trans woman creating ripples that will find themselves born again and again as waves.

On Rhinestone Tomboy, Byrne’s recently released record and first release under the Kill Rock Stars Nashville imprint label, we are treated to a portrait painted with shades of Byrne’s youth, one spent listening to stacks of 45s and 8-tracks blasting from blown speakers out the window of a Chevy. Songs that opened the trailhead to a lifelong journey that informed Byrne’s musical landscape. Praised by NPR, No Depression, Rolling Stone, and more, Mya is a writer’s writer, with music transcending genre and generations.

“‘It Don’t Fade’ is exactly the ‘just keep going’ anthem we could all use right now.” – Billboard

“[What] Townes Van Zandt would have written had he ever found any peace of mind…makes me want to write.” – Ezra Furman

“Mya Byrne shows us a different version of America that I could maybe actually believe in, but it’s so much more than country…welcome to the trans-genre tipping point.” – Susan Stryker