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If there are words to the knowledge gleaned from slowing down, phrases loving built syllable by syllable to describe the sublime feeling of standing still, Mya Byrne is singing them. She sings with a rapturous voice that is smoke lined with silk, fervent and reserved with a hushed beauty in equal measure, with reflection, perspective, and experience gained from a lifetime on the road. Her voice calls to life answers found in memories safely stored in the attics of our souls, the majesty we grasp when we allow our hearts and minds to rest for moments strung together into days.

Now with a new record for the freshly minted Kill Rock Stars Nashville imprint, and splitting her time between Brooklyn, Oakland, and Tennessee, Byrne finds herself at the forefront of a movement propelled by a much needed burst of fresh air. Rhinestone Tomboy is a 12 song journey into redemption and the endless rejuvenation of finding a new dawn for your eyes to wake to.

Playing Americana steeped with potent branches of blues, rock, glam and country music, 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, we are treated to a portrait painted with shades of Byrne’s youth, one spent listening to stacks of her mama’s dusty 45s, and thrift store 8-tracks blasting from blown speakers out the window of an old Chevy. Songs that opened the trailhead to a lifelong journey that informed Byrne’s musical landscape.

Byrne’s songwriting is a masterclass in world building, giving life to such vivid imagery that we can see all at once the dark amber of a sky settling into night, or feel the clearing air after a prolonged fire in our lungs. It is a collection of stories of her world in times of joy and challenge; some written during the 2018 California wildfires, some pulled out of her time spent in New York nightlife in the late aughts, and a good many written in lockdown, several written in the week following the loss of John Prine in 2020, another spirit living in the ethereal realm of Byne’s music.

Most notably, many of the songs were written after Byrne became sober, and paired with the richness of being trans revealing itself over time, it is an album that is deeply reflective of what it means to see the full breadth of ourselves. “I think I finally integrated a whole bunch of myself into my music in a way that I don't think was possible before,” Byrne says of the themes onRhinestone Tomboy,“I think in a lot of my previous work there was this element of I needed to discover who I was.”

Byrne is a talent unbound on the guitar, Americana and country that gathers folk and punk as it finds new territories, deftly tearing great structures from old adages about three chords and truths. Rhinestone Tomboy is an outlaw album of raucous abandon, endless desire and a warm embrace. Here, Byrne is a collected pool of all the rivers of her talent that have gathered and made herself new and whole.

Rhinestone Tomboy was produced in Nashville by Grammy-nominated songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan, who says of the project: “Mya Byrne has been my friend for a long time and I've always believed in her as an artist. She has many talents and truly shines as a performer, writer and recording artist. Together, we assembled a brilliant cast of musicians from all walks of life who added beauty, danger and creativity to Mya's exceptional songs. It means so much to me to work with Mya. Her story and representation is so important to include in Americana and Country music. Using my skills as a producer to help create a path for Mya to succeed was something I felt called to do in my soul. If our goal as a society is to become softer, more loving and more accepting of each other, we need artists like Mya Byrne, who possesses these qualities, to help lead us on our mission.”

Songs like “Autumn Sun”are born of a rollicking rhythm, guitars playfully dance over a swift and steady drum beat, harkening to the blend of Americana, roots and rock and roll burrowed deep in the very bones of Byrne. Or “Come On”, a psychedelic ball of rolling thunder, boots stomping onto floorboards kicking dust to the ceiling of heaven itself. Wrapping the record is “That’s WhatLucky Means”, a fond farewell gently waved from a porch in the heat of the day, tinted by the faded waves of an AM radio, popping with a crackle of life we can only be so lucky to find in our days on this earth.

Though many of the songs on Rhinestone Tomboy are reactions to hard times — the pandemic, wildfires, sobriety and more — the songs are not so much reminders of pain; they are triumphs of the way we find ourselves after we hurt. As Byrne says, “One of my partners says that she's blown away by my ability to take pain, whether it's personal or observed, and turn it into some sort of reflection or joy.” That joyful reflection is where we find Byrne on this record, grappling with God and finding jubilant perseverance.

Rhinestone Tomboy will be released via Kill Rock Stars Nashville on April 28, 2023 on vinyl, CD and all streaming platforms.