Tracy Byrd

by Steve Huey
Tracy Byrds brand of new traditionalist country made him a star in the 90s, particularly his playful, good-time party singalongs (though he also turned in the occasional ballad success). Byrd was born in the small rural town of Vidor, TX, in 1966 and grew up listening to his familys extensive country record collection. When Byrd was 20 years old, he visited a novelty recording studio in a shopping mall and sang over a karaoke-style backing track of Your Cheatin Heart. Impressed, the saleswoman invited him to perform in an amateur talent show, and when Byrd was well received, he decided to make country music his vocation. He dropped out of college and joined Mark Chesnutts band, eventually replacing Chesnutt as the house headliner at a popular nightspot in Beaumont, TX. He made one unsuccessful trip to Nashville in search of a record deal, but his second time around, he landed a private audition with MCA executives, who signed him right away.Byrds self-titled debut album was released in 1993, and while it wasnt a blockbuster, it put the singer on the map in a big way with its third single, the number one smash Holdin Heaven. The follow-up album, 1994s No Ordinary Man, was Byrds commercial breakthrough; it sold over two million copies thanks to four Top Five hits: the dance tunes Watermelon Crawl, Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous, and The First Step, and the change-of-pace ballad The Keeper of the Stars, which became a wedding favorite among country fans. Byrd followed his big success quickly with 1995s Love Lessons, and while singles like Walking to Jerusalem and 4 to 1 in Atlanta didnt duplicate the massive popularity of their predecessors, they still helped the album sell at a respectable gold level. 1996s Big Love returned Byrd to the Top Five of the singles charts with the title track and (Dont Take Her) Shes All I Got, and the title track of 1998s Im from the Country reached similar territory.
Byrd subsequently decided to leave MCA for RCA, and made his label debut with 1999s Its About Time, which featured a smoother, poppier production on tracks like the near-Top Ten Put Your Hand in Mine (the records biggest single). However, Byrd returned to straight-ahead, good-time country for the follow-up, 2001s Ten Rounds; fans rewarded him by sending the single Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo to the top of the charts, giving Byrd his second number one. The album also featured the Top Ten hit Just Let Me Be in Love and a duet with Chesnutt on the playfully anti-pop A Good Way to Get on My Bad Side. A final album for RCA, Truth About Men, appeared in 2003. Byrd then released Different Things on Blind Mule Records in 2006.