by Laura Ginsberg
   Staff Writer, Rolla Daily News

Award-winning local musician Mick Byrd will celebrate the release of his sixth CD, "Outer Road," with a special performance Saturday at the Lyric Live Theater in Newburg, May 26, 2007.

 Byrd will bring audiences a unique sampling of blues, country, bluegrass and jazz, which he describes as "American Roots" music.

 Performing alongside Byrd will be Bonus Track, aka, vocalist and guitar, banjo, mandolin and autoharp player Mark Rice, and vocalist Kristan Hassler.

 "The audience should expect to hear songs with a great deal of honesty and integrity," said Byrd, who by day is a social studies teacher and girls' baseball and softball coach at the Maries County R-2 School in Vienna. "It's roots music. It's very much mixed-genre."

 Saturday will be Mick Byrd and Bonus Track's first performance at the Lyric Live Theater, and Byrd is looking forward to releasing his latest CD in Newberg.

 "For Mark, Kristan and I, this is our third CD together," he said. "Normally, we do a CD release concert somewhere in the city, and we wanted to do one here, locally. We play really extensively here in the Ozarks and the central-Missouri area."

 Byrd started writing and recording music after a knee injury in 1995 left him with a lot of time on his hands while recovering. He played guitar in high school and college and decided it was time to pick the instrument up again.

 Byrd has since recorded six albums, starting with his 1996 release, "No Frills," and has performed in 14 states and 1reland. He and Bonus Track are on the Arts Council Roster of Touring Performers and members of the Mid-America Arts Alliance. "We probably do 40 to 60 shows a year," Byrd said. In 1995, Byrd was chosen as a national away winner in Billboard magazine for his song "Afternoon at the Wall," about a day at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, D.C.

 All of the music released by Byrd is done independently on his own label, TimeOut Records. "being completely independent is that we get to do what we want to do," Byrd said, adding that his wife, Debbie, deserves a lot of credit. "She is TimeOut Records."

 Byrd said the local media also has been helpful in promoting his music and performances. "The radio stations and publications have been very, very helpful to us," he said. "In our area, people are very supportive of local folks."

 Although juggling a teaching career with the life of a traveling musician can be a stretch, Byrd said he is driven to write and perform. "Why do runners run'? Why do artists paint?" Byrd said when asked where he gets that drive. "I find it to be very rewarding and very challenging. I think what draws people to our music is it's music with a message. That's what I admire in song writing  --when you write a song you're not just selling people a song, you're selling them a message."

He hopes to see a good turnout at Saturday's show, and encourages people to attend.

"It's going to be very enjoyable." Byrd said. "We pride ourselves on a very intimate, fun performance in which the audience is very much a part of what is going on. We're going to enjoy the audience as much as they enjoy us." Mick Byrd and Bonus Track will take the stage at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Lyric Live Theater in Newburg to celebrate the release of Byrd's sixth CD, "Outer Road." Tickets are $8 and reservations are encouraged. For tickets, contact Prank Bridges at (573) 341 -9071.