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 of the 80s & 90s. 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 over 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), and a 5-song EP Me & Paul.
He is 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! Jon’s albums have been lauded by Mojo Magazine, Maverick Magazine and NPR.
After a summer of national radio exposure via Thacker Mountain Radio out of Oxford, MS and NPR’S Mountain Stage Radio from Charleston, WV, a new full-length recording: ALL YOUR MISTAKES will be released this fall on Longleaf Pine Records.
Jon’s an international touring artist and has played the Country Music Hall of Fame with Lloyd Green and Duane Eddy. Yet when asked about some of his career highlights he wittily responds with, “I sold a drum set to John Prine.”
Greg was born in 1960 in Louisville, Kentucky, and by his early teens was consumed with playing the guitar and finding like-minded people to jam and form groups with. Playing at back yard parties and school dances by the time he was 14 and moving into nightclubs at 16, Greg started his “life on the road” at 18 years old – fresh out of Central High School.
For the next 10 years, Greg’s musical career was relegated to playing mostly cover music in clubs throughout the Southwestern and Midwestern states; although with the help of his trusty Porta-Studio, he was always writing songs and working on ways of getting the songs down on tape properly. This period was highlighted by “The Hammerheads,” a hard-rocking, Southern funk group that tore up the I-65 circuit from 1988 to 1992. The Hammerheads released a self-titled “Live” CD in 1992.
After the break-up of The Hammerheads, Greg soon became an in-demand touring guitarist in Nashville, Tennessee (where he moved in 1988). He also began The Greg Foresman Band in 1993. This ”grand experiment” as it’s now considered, pushed Greg to the center stage spotlight, a place on the stage where — to say he wasn’t extremely comfortable — would be an understatement.
However, he persevered and has released five studio albums and a very popular “Live” collection available for free on his website. He and his band have also carved out a respectable and loyal following in their corner of the world by playing live shows as often as their schedules allow.
Greg joined Martina McBride’s touring band in 1997 and has been around the country and overseas with Martina & company many times over. “I definitely owe Martina a debt of gratitude,” he said. “She’s kept me on for all these years and it’s allowed me to do MY thing as well.”
Greg has become an in demand session guitarist in Nashville as well, playing on thousands of recordings over the last several years, as well as Producing albums by such artists as Sheila Lawrence, Heidi Howe and Chris Walsh, among others.