| Brief Blurb: | An amplifier, Tennessee Whiskey and that man from Alabama...
Have you ever had those moments where music speaks to you on a whole new level
- where you know you’ve heard something special? Remember that feeling and how
you wanted to hold onto it and never let it go? Standing in the audience at Jason
Isbell’s 2016 Australia tour with his band The 400 Unit, Tristen Bird had this moment.
He had forgotten music could make you feel that way and had no idea that meeting
the man of the hour would leave him revelling.
Not only did Bird leave this tour with a newfound connection to music, in particular
with Isbell’s breakthrough record, ‘South Eastern’, but he also took home Isbell’s
touring amp from that tour, a constant reminder of the moment that would change
the course of Bird's career.
Just a week later and with fresh inspiration, Bird sat penning songs for a new record
and what would become his third album release, ‘Yonder Comes The Sun’. The
foundations were set, the stylising and sound were to come. Enter Bird’s friend, and
known musician to the Australian music scene, drummer Clint Hyndman of
Something For Kate. Together the pair would lay down the live recording for the
album on Birds birthday in September 2016. The next stop was Muscle Shoals
Alabama - back to where it all began - to reunite with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
bassist, Jimbo Hart. Here is where Hart put the soul into ‘Yonder Comes The Sun’-
where it truly came to life.
May 2017 not only found Bird in the halls of Fame studios in Muscle Shoals amongst
the hallowed limestone across from the Tennessee River , but also within the walls
of the Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis. Working with Matt Ross Spang to
mix the first two singles from the album, ‘Anywhere You Wanna Go’ and, the title
track ‘Yonder Comes The Sun’, Spang, who was hot off of working on Margot Price’s
‘Sophomore’, and Jason Isbell’s ‘Nashville Sound’, injected the might and nostalgia
of the historic studio on a Spring Memphis night. The two singles were mastered by
Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Sound in LA and released to Australian radio in July and
October, with buzzing reception from critics and the audience.
September 2017 saw Bird fly back in Nashville, this time by invitation from the
Sounds Australia team to perform a showcase at the legendary Blue Bird Café
where he caught the attention of major Nashville producer, Matt Andrews. Working
with Andrews, the right hand man to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Bird knew he
was the missing piece to his puzzle. Here, Andrews mixed the remainder of the
album at the famed Woodland Sound Studios, home to Neil Young, Emmylou Harris,
Willie Nelson and many more classic records. Fast forward to today.
With three extensive Australian tours under his belt, national airplay, a distribution
signing to MGM and Mastering by Alex McCullogh at True East in Nashville, the Bird
is ready to fly. Partnered with a national tour, ‘Yonder Comes The Sun’ was released
on Friday 4 May 2018 thanks to MGM and you’ll want to hear it.
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