Jonathan Byrd is a preacher’s son, a Gulf War veteran, and an award-winning songwriter from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, known for literary, outsider songs that have become Americana favorites. The Chicago Tribune called Byrd “one of the top 50 songwriters of the past 50 years.”
Multi-instrumentalist Johnny Waken cut his teeth on electric guitar in Pittsburgh with rock legend Norm Nardini, opening for The Blues Brothers Band on their Red, Hot & Blue tour in 1992. After taking a few years away from music, Johnny is back at it with the Pickup Cowboys.
Austin McCall is a drummer of all trades, having played with such diverse acts as Senegalese griot Diali Cissokho, new Indie duo Violet Bell, and international theater troupe Paper Hand Puppet Intervention. Austin uses all his modes to support Jonathan Byrd’s diverse catalog of songs and Johnny Waken’s instrumental antics.
Jonathan Byrd and The Pickup Cowboys are musical gunslingers, vaudevillian hucksters, and old-fashioned tent revivalists. With their new album Pickup Cowboy (2018), they have brought a bold new set of working-class anthems to Americana fans, and a spirit-raising show to back it up.