MERCEDES — Tracy Byrd sings traditional-sounding country songs.
“That’s what feels good to me,” he said. Byrd will play that traditional sound tonight at the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show.
But he is anything but traditional in the way he makes and markets his music.
Byrd formed his own record label, thus saving himself 80 percent in recording costs.
“I don’t have to sell nearly as many before I start making real money,” he said.
But without a major label, distribution — getting the albums into the stores — becomes a problem.
Byrd solved that by striking a deal with A2M, a branch of one of the country’s largest music distributors. They make sure his albums are supplied to major retailers such as Wal-Mart.
Other A2M clients include Tommy Lee, Sinead O’Connor, Dolly Parton and Tracy Lawrence.
“It’s really well-suited for an artist that’s already established,” he said.
Byrd released his first single in 1992 and has been going strong ever since.
“I’m just glad to have survived that long,” he said. “This can be a really unfriendly business.”
In an industry where the successful careers only last five years, Byrd has kept going for 15 years by working steady.
“We’ve built this one concert at a time, one autograph at a time and one record at a time,” Byrd said.
Though his schedule can be grueling, Byrd shows no sign of slowing down.
“I’m not going to be one of these guys that takes a year off to regroup,” he said. “That’s the kiss of death in this business.”
When he’s not making music in the studio or on the stage, you’ll usually find Byrd in the great outdoors. His passions include bass fishing, hunting and he has been known to hit a golf ball or two.
“I just hope we get down there early enough so that I can play a round of golf,” Byrd said.
The singer became a dedicated golf swinger at 12.
“I used to work at the local golf course for my greens fees,” he said. “Summertimes when I was a kid I’d play 54 holes a day.”
Byrd thinks he may have been a better golfer back then when he didn’t know anything about the game.
“I tend to over-analyze everything now,” he said with a laugh. “That’s what the golf channels do to you.”
His grandmother taught him to fish and hunt.
“From an early age, 4 or 5 years old, I was going fishing all of the time with her,” he said “When I turned 6 I started hunting with her. I know that freaks people out — a 6-year-old with a gun — back then it was safe.”
She also taught him how to trap animals, something she did all year around.
“She was kind of an old mountain woman,” he said. “Talk about self-sufficient, she was all that and more.”
Out back, Byrd’s grandmother had her own sawmill where she made a living making survey stakes.
“She was something else,” Byrd said. “She was tough, real tough.”
