19 Facts About Mya Byrne

Mya Adriene Byrne is an American singer-songwriter whose works falls mostly in the Americana vein, a combination of folk, blues and country music.

In 2014, Mya Byrne publicly announced her transgender status and transition and has continued to work as a musician and performer.

Mya Byrne is the granddaughter of anaesthesiology pioneer Philip H Sechzer.

Over her career, Mya Byrne has opened for acts such as Steve Forbert, Railroad Earth, Jack Hardy Heartless Bastards, Rae Spoon, Greensky Bluegrass, Levon Helm, Pansy Division, Team Dresch, and Suzanne Vega.

Mya Byrne participated in the new song competition at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival, and was the recipient of a PLUS Award from ASCAP in 2004,2005,2010,2012,2013, and 2014.

Mya Byrne was the longtime host of a popular weekly open mike at Micky's Blue Room, and later, Banjo Jim's in Alphabet City, and was the lead guitarist in the Late Night band at Rockwood Music Hall from 2007 to 2009, performing weekly for most of its 18-month residency.

Mya Byrne released her first full-length album with The Ramblers in June 2008, with David Immergluck of Counting Crows on additional lead guitar.

In January 2012, Mya Byrne was the co-director for the Beatles Complete on Ukulele Festival at Brooklyn Bowl, alongside festival founder Roger Greenawalt, and another performance that March at South By Southwest.

In 2014, Mya Byrne was named by New Jersey alternative music newspaper The Aquarian Weekly as one of the 30 most promising acts of 2014 and was chosen to compete in the WNYC "Battle of the Boroughs", and to perform as a showcase artist at the prestigious Northeast Regional Folk Alliance conference.

Since 2014, Mya Byrne has written several op-eds for The Advocate and Huffington Post on trans lives.

Mya Byrne started as a staff writer for Country Queer magazine in 2020.

In 2015, Mya Byrne was named an Emerging Artist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, performing on the mainstage, and released her first solo full-length album, "As I Am".

Mya Byrne was the first-place Americana winner in the 2015 Great American Song Contest, and appeared at the 2016 Philadelphia Folk Festival and again at Falcon Ridge.

Mya Byrne's music was featured in "[Trans]formation", a new play on trans identity, in collaboration with The Living Canvas in Chicago.

Mya Byrne formerly played bass and wrote songs for The Homobiles, a San Francisco-based queercore band fronted by Lynn Breedlove, and Lavender Country, founded in 1973 and recognised by the Country Music Hall of Fame as the world's first openly gay country music band.

Mya Byrne has written songs and played lead guitar with the queer country band Secret Emchy Society.

In June 2019, Mya Byrne headlined Berkeley Pride, and performed solo on the main stage of the San Francisco Dyke March.

In October 2021, Mya Byrne composed and recorded the theme music for Amazon Music's Country Heat Weekly podcast, hosted by Kelly Sutton.

In January 2022, Mya Byrne was named one of twelve artists to watch in 2022 by Nashville Scene and CMT.