Raised on boxing and cattle raising in Mississippi, Byther moved to Chicago based on the advice of his cousin, J.B. Lenior, back around the early 1950s. Throwing punches earned him his taste for success, while J.B. gave him an affinity for guitar chops and searing lyrics. Though his cousin would go on to dress up his songs in boogie-woogie, Byther is all soul- and gospel-tinged pain.
And troubles do run deep for the man; he lost both his parents before he was six months of age, and later a sister to a house fire. Combining his experience on the upright bass and later Chicago influences like Robert Lockwood, Otish Rush and Hubert Sumlin, Byther rose to fame on a brooding sound that was both speedy and calculated.
Cutting his teeth at Theresa's and Pepper's lounge, Byther didn't drop his first record until 1983, with a self-produced demo called Tell Me How You Like It on Texas-based Grits Records. From there it was tours galore in Europe and Scandinavia before '85's Housefire, also on Grits, followed by I'm A Madman on Bullseye in '87. Delmark soon signed a deal with him, and this sorrowful soul's been all teeth and smiles ever since-except when he gets on stage, of course.
For more information, visit their website: http://www.myspace.com/bythersmith
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