Ricky Byrd Gets Personal With New Album 'NYC Made'

01-26-2025

(Kayos) Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter/Producer Ricky Byrd, a 2015 inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, is set to release his fourth and most personal album yet, the aptly named NYC Made (Wicked Cool Records) on March 28, 2025.

A tribute to the Bronx-born, Queens-raised rock and devoted Yankee fan's nights listening to the Top 40 radio of his youth, the first single, "Transistor Radio Childhood," will be available on January 24, the same day pre-release orders begin for the album, available on vinyl, CD and all streaming sites March 28. The single pays homage to the melting pot AM radio of the '60s and '70s, with nods to his beloved Yankees and WABC DJ Cousin Brucie, The Beach Boys (the "ba-ba-ba-ba of "Barbara Ann"), The Kinks ("You Really Got Me"), Paul Revere and a lyrical bow to Otis Redding (" I've sat on the dock of the bay, Otis whistlin' in my ear ")Additionally, the track is The Coolest Song in the World in The Underground Garage the week of release.

"I grew up on everything from The Raspberries to The Who to The Stones to The Yardbirds to Sam Cooke," he told Guitar Player. "If you just mix that all in a stew, I guess it comes out Ricky Byrd. I wear my influences on my sleeve. I write what I know. I just make music to make people happy... and to make me happy."

That formula holds true for NYC Made, recorded at Parcheesi Studios with longtime co-producer Bob Stander, keyboardist/accordion Jeff Kazee (Asbury Jukes), fiddle player Tony Montalbo, drummers Steve Holley (Wings), Aaron Comess (the Spin Doctors) and Thommy Price (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts), Uptown Horns Arno Hecht and Larry Etkin and the Ba Ba Blacksheep Singers (Stevie Van Zandt, Willie Nile, Jeff Kazee and Marc Ribler) on "Translator Radio Childhood" and "Sweet Byrd of Youte." In addition, Van Zandt, who co-produced "Transistor Radio Childhood," "Stay Grateful" and "Sweet Byrd of Youte" with Byrd and Stander, contributes mandolin on "Anna Lee," the finger-snapping ode to street corner doo-wop co-written by Southside Johnny Lyon with Byrd, which will be the first focus track from the album. Listed on the album credits as Consigliere, Little Steven's Silvio Dante mob character in The Sopranos adds yet another layer of meaning to NYC Made.

NYC Made offers an overview of the music which continues to drive Byrd, with easter eggs hidden among the influences, from the T. Rex/Mott the Hoople/Queen-style rocker, "Glamdemic Blues," and "Sweet Byrd of Youte," his own autobiographical look back when "We were young and ready, willing and able," to the Sam & Dave gospel soul revue of "Then Along Comes You," the '50s OG spirit of Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis on "Louanne," the Ziggy Stardust tip-of-the-hat to a recurring dream, "Alien" and The Who, pass-the-torch celebration of "RnR's Demise (Has Been Greatly Exaggerated)."

The release of NYC Made follows Byrd's previous two albums, Clean Getaway (2015) and Sobering Times (2021), both of which reflected his own sobriety (this year will mark his 38th) and the songs which resulted from his leading various recovery music groups at treatment facilities around the country.

Byrd is approaching a half-century as a professional rock 'n' roller from his start as a 21-year-old joining the band Susan (RCA) in 1977 (after answering an ad in the Village Voice) before replacing Eric Ambel in Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in 1981, just in time to play guitar and sing vocals on the platinum-plus I Love Rock n' Roll and the subsequent six albums over the next decade until moving on in 1991. Signing a deal with Sony Music Publishing, over the next 35 years, Ricky recorded, toured and/or shared a stage with a succession of artists he grew up idolizing, among them Roger Daltrey, Ian Hunter, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Alice Cooper, Mavis Staples, Darlene Love, Smokey Robinson, The Beach Boys, Jimmy Page, Steve Miller, Ronnie Spector, Graham Nash, Sam Moore, Gary Clark Jr., Peter Wolf and Stevie Wonder.

"Come on DJ/Take my breath away," "RnR's Demise (Has Been Greatly Exaggerated)"

"I still get the same thrill when I hear the DJ play one of my records on the car radio," says Ricky. "Do you need any more than that? As long as there are young, rebellious kids banging away on guitar, bass and drums in their garage, rock 'n' roll will survive in one form or another. And I'm still doing it."

Ricky Byrd's childhood fantasy has turned into a remarkable lifelong career. It's only rock 'n' roll... but he likes it, loves it, yes he does. NYC Made is all the proof you need.