Byrd Packs Potential To Be A Country Giant

Thu., Aug. 15, 1996

Don Adair Correspondent

When the dust has settled, Tracy Byrd will be remembered as one of the great country singers.

Or maybe he’ll just be washed away and forgotten in the great flood of ersatz stars that now rule the charts.

In either case, he’ll play Silver Mountain Saturday night.

When he opened here for Reba McEntire last year, Byrd showed that he’s got the goods to be one of the greats; now, it’s just a question of singing the right songs and getting a boost from country radio.

“It’s kind of tough for me,” Byrd told a reporter earlier this year. “I like to play traditional country - western swing meets honky-tonk. I’m not like Garth Brooks or Little Texas, who got their influences from pop acts like Boston and James Taylor.

“It’s a little frustrating. I’ve had radio in general say (my music) is too country, and I’m like ‘It was a country station the last time I looked.’ “

But Byrd is a pragmatist and he’s cut a few tunes that capitalize on the current country-pop trend. In particular, “Watermelon Crawl” and “Lifestyles of the Rich and Not So Famous” from “No Ordinary Man,” his breakthrough, platinum-selling second record.

It’s not a big surprise that’s not Byrd’s favorite record.

“I satisfied myself with the first album (1993’s “Tracy Byrd”), but not a whole lot of records were sold. For the second, I said, ‘Give them what they want’ and came up with songs like ‘Watermelon Crawl’ and ‘Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous.’ But I wasn’t as pleased. The third is a marriage of sorts.”

True enough. From track to track, “Love Lessons” bounces between straight-ahead country (“Heaven In My Woman’s Eyes”), ballads (“Love Lessons”), honky-tonk, (“You Don’t Need That Heartache”) and pop (“4 to 1 In Atlanta”).

Surprisingly, the record succeeds despite its identity crisis: Byrd is one of those folks who are so talented they transcend the limitations of the material or the production.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Tracy Byrd will perform at the Silver Mountain Amphitheatre at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $29.50 and $22.50, available at all G&B Select-a-Seat outlets or call 325-SEAT.

This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Tracy Byrd will perform at the Silver Mountain Amphitheatre at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $29.50 and $22.50, available at all G&B; Select-a-Seat outlets or call 325-SEAT.