The song starts simply, with an acoustic guitar switching between a minor and major chord before being joined by the mandolin and the nylon string guitar. The acoustic bass kicks in and then Jonathan Byrd begins to sing. Is this a new song or an old traditional number? The close harmony enters in as the mandolin begins its slow, steady tremolo. The song is "True Companion," and it is track one from the new recording, The Sea and the Sky, a collaboration between North Carolina singer-songwriter Jonathan Byrd, and the new acoustic world music duo from Georgia, Dromedary.
The recording continues with a mix of old and new sounds, blended with the imagery of the sea and the sky. The musical influences, like the subject matter, are vast. Jonathan Byrd and Dromedary members Andrew Reissiger and Rob McMaken, shared a love of heavy electric guitar players when they were first learning their craft. But, they each took different paths when it came to understanding the power and influence of traditional music. Their chance meeting occurred at a restaurant in the basement of a bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina. Jonathan was lured in by a stage full of exotic musical instruments. But more on that story later.
Jonathan Byrd began his musical development singing hymns at his father's Southern Baptist church on Sundays and Wednesdays. As the son of a preacher, he was exposed to one of the most important strands of American Roots music: Southern Gospel music.
Jonathan's life as a musician included making his way through some early primer piano books as a kid, but he soon became frustrated because he wanted to be creative with the instrument. He didn't want to know the right way to do it, he just wanted to make sounds. His brother taught him a few things on the guitar, and when he talked his dad into buying him a cheap Fender Stratocaster as a teenager, he learned "Stairway to Heaven" right away.
"I really wanted to play Jimi Hendrix stuff. That's what inspired me to get a guitar, but you just don't start …
