Parenting Panel with Craig Norris Byrd
Craig Norris Byrd is a gifted songwriter whose music rises above the clutter and speaks to real issues that affect people's lives. His journey from a young athlete in southern New Mexico took him into the Army and through several universities. He specialized in a live event production career that sent him throughout the United States and around the world, where he witnessed and experienced the highs and lows of the human condition. He expresses the truth he found there in his artistic pursuits. His artistic statement is a cathartic one—purging pain through expression—and, on Remissions, his debut 10-track collection of poetic folk, Byrd lays bare some painfully complex life situations.
Byrd is a lifelong creative who has previously channeled his artistic talents into theater, dance, music, and technically spectacular extravaganza. These days he’s focusing his energies on music and enjoying an outpouring of inspiration. Up next, he has two more albums in the works: a rockabilly-Americana joyride and an edgy alt-rock album. Byrd shares: “The time has come to break out of the shell and face the fuel with my own little spark. I am blasting the detritus from my favorite creations and actively devising new ones.”
We got the chance to speak with Craig for our Parenting Panel series. So, without further ado, let’s dive in:
How many children do you have? What are their names and ages?
I have two boys, 18 and 19, one becoming a Navy cryptographer and the other on his way to university.
Did you have fears or concerns about how becoming a parent would interfere with your artistic endeavors?
I put my creativity on a back burner when the boys were young in order to provide a more stable and consistent livelihood. Once they became adolescent and young men, I was able to focus more on my creative work.
What has parenthood taught you about yourself, your music, or your creative process?
I have learned that creativity refuses to be stifled past a certain point. Even in the busiest periods of my family life I wrote songs, maintained a recording studio and expanded my scope of artistic expertise. It was as a compulsion that I could not deny. As I divvied up my time between a demanding job, maintaining a home and property and being available for my wife and children, I still managed to study music business and technology and implement my studies by producing an EP, though it was not very good. The songs were solid, though, and appear on Remissions.
Has the pandemic taken away or added to your creative flow? Are you taking good care of yourself these days?
Funny you should ask. The pandemic was one of the best things that could have happened for me. I became unemployed and was able to spend my days working on my music and my health. Dancing became more difficult, but all of the online offerings of movement practices that can be done at home flourished. I was able to do yoga and take a ballet barre regularly. Plus, I could negotiate the tens of thousands of hours required to self-produce and engineer a record album. I still would not have a record out without the pandemic giving me the time to make it.
What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before you became a parent? Any advice for others?
I started later in life with children. Before starting a family, I was able to travel more freely, and I anticipate doing that again in later life. I would advise any prospective parent to see a bit of the world before having children.
Do your children inspire / inform your music?
Both of my two boys have inspired songs, one a fierce rocker as of yet unreleased and the other a gentle lullaby. They have also contributed to my musical creativity by shaping general attitude and out look on life. All that I write songs about is filtered through my personal perspective, and the children have defined that perspective for the past 20 years, and continue to do so today as I watch them become successful adults.
Have you ever written a song for or about your kids?
The last song on my recently released album Remissions is named “Lincoln’s Lullaby.” I wrote it for my older son when he was four years old or so. I frequently sang the boys to sleep using a children’s songbook. Lincoln knew I wrote songs and asked me to make him a lullaby, so it became a mission.