We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Piper Byers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Piper below.

Hi Piper, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Recently, I’ve decided to make the transition back to creating country music and it’s honestly one of the biggest risks I’ve taken creatively so far. I grew up performing as a country artist in DFW and sang at rodeos, dive bars, two-step venues, you name it. And I loved it so much and loved the country community. But as I got older, my tastes changed a little and I also realized that country music was not the ‘safe space’ for everyone the way it was for me. I realized it had become alienating and not welcoming to lots of groups of people, including some groups that my closest friends and loved-ones were in. So I took a detour and started making indie-pop music which was fun for awhile but never quite landed. It never felt right the way that singing and writing country songs did. I had this big epiphany very recently. I realized I wanted to go back to country but I was not going to return to an exclusionary and unwelcoming community. I feel like this is a big turning point for me where I can be and represent the change that I know country music is capable of. At its core its a place for storytellers, family, love, and flaws. But I believe those core values got lost somewhere along the way. I want to be a pioneer in the genre (even though that might mean pissing lots of people off and rubbing people the wrong way).

Piper, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I like to say that I am a songwriter first and a performer second. I love writing songs and the process of taking something sad, unsavory, or complicated and turning it into something beautiful and sharable. I’ve been in the industry since I was very young and started playing gigs and writing original songs at 12-years-old. My personal sound has eved and flowed a lot over the years but now I would describe my music as alternative folk-country with a little something for everyone.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

As mentioned before, my current mission in creating music is to make country music a more inclusive community for everyone and reinvent old and familiar styles.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

One day I was going through some old family boxes and belongings and I found a funeral program for someone I didn’t know. But I turned the program over and on the back was a quote by Henry David Thoreau. It said “Why should we be in such haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away”.

In all sincerity, stumbling upon this quote changed my life and my perspective on success completely. I have always felt out of step from my peers, never really having a clear path as is usually the case for creatives. But in a way, this quote gave me permission to accept that my path is different and that it’s nothing to feel ashamed of. Life is too short not to “step to the music” that I hear.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://piperbyersmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piper_byers/

Image Credits
Shane Gilmore, Jacob Honescko