Crystin Byrd
Sometimes dark, but always honest, literate pop-folk....Just one year after having written her very first song, Crystin Byrd had 2 songs receive honorable mention in the highly-esteemed John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2001. This acknowledgment, coupled with the intense creative force and personal discovery that was causing her to break through all the silences in her life, instigated her to bring together a band in 2002 and begin to perform locally. This exposure led to multiple requests for her music for a variety of indie films, all having in common the use of her songs in pivotal life-changing moments on screen. Independently financing and releasing the music, she released a short demo in 2003, “Exhibit B: the demo sessions,” and a full-length album in early 2005, entitled “My Silence," recorded and mixed by the reknown Larry Crane (Decemberists, Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, etc.) Crystin Byrd’s shimmering and authentic singing voice, gentle vulnerability, wrapped in powerful, award-winning songwriting, can be heard on webcasts (NW Radio, The Feminine Groove, PDXbands.com, etc), and on radio stations (KPSU, KMUN, WUAG, KEAO, KONI) spanning from her hometown of Portland, Oregon, to North Carolina, and Hawaii.
Artist Information
Instrumentation
Crystin Byrd - singer/songwriter/guitarist
Accompanied by:
Scott Allen on cello
Jessica Wright on flute
Brian Wright on percussion
Biography
Award-winning singer/songwriter Crystin Byrd has just released her debut CD, "My Silence," recorded and mixed with the reknown Larry Crane (Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, Quasi, The Decemberists). The ablum includes 12 songs chosen from Crystin Byrd's prolific writings from a time period in her life when she was facing and healing from the sexual abuse she experienced as a child. "The CD holds together well as a concept album about breaking the silence and using the voice to discover personal freedom," says Marie Schumacher, a fellow Portland-based singer/songwriter who harmonizes with Crystin in the title track. The songs reveal the vulnerable, yet powerful, the sorrowful, and the joyful, while showcasing the full band's exceptional talents. Crystin Byrd's emotional intensity shimmers in her voice, and through her songs, a quality that has repeatedly brought her the attention of a variety of indie filmmakers, including Rolla Selbak, Chris Roy, and Shilpa Sunthankar, for use as the essential backdrop in pivotal, life-changing moments onscreen.
In just one year, two of the songs featured on the album have received honorable mention in the highly-regarded international John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Her melodic pop-rock music with its unusually intelligent and poetic lyrics is sung with a voice that is emotive and pure, sometimes compared to that of Natalie Merchant or Aimee Mann, but completely her own, and is here lushly produced with a great sensitivity to the message and meanings in this bold debut.