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Press Release – ND Live at Gorham NH 2024 July 4th Spectacular – Main Parade (Acoustic Performance)

Nostalgic Distortion band members (from left to right): Ryan Byrne, Marc Sheehan, and Tim Hazelton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Berlin-Gorham NH Area Media)

CONTACT:

Ryan Byrne
Dissonance Records
C/O 251 Group
17 Church Street
Gorham, NH 03581
(615) 598-7818
info@251group.com

Former Nashville Musician / Local Resident To Celebrate Band’s 30th Anniversary with Performance at Gorham 4th of July Parade

GORHAM, NH: Local resident, businessman, and musician Ryan Byrne will be performing an acoustic set with his rock group, Nostalgic Distortion, in the Gorham 4th of July Parade in celebration of the band’s 30th anniversary. Byrne is a former professional musician who spent a decade as the touring bassist for Nashville recording artist and singer / songwriter Stephen Cochran from 2006 – 2016. Byrne’s tenure as part of Cochran’s band provided him with quite a resume, including the following:

  • National concert tours from New York to California including performances at famed Nashville venues such as the Bridgestone Arena and the Ryman Auditorium
  • An international AFE (Armed Forces Entertainment) tour to the Middle East to perform for U.S. & Coalition Forces in Kuwait & Bahrain
  • Airplay and live broadcast performances on radio stations from coast to coast
  • Music video features including regular rotation programming on Great American Country (the predecessor cable channel to Great American Family)
  • Locally televised performances and a nationally broadcast live performance on Fox News Channel’s New Year’s Eve special from Times Square

However, Byrne’s music accolades stretch back to his school days. During his 4th grade year at Ed Fenn Elementary School, Byrne joined the school band program on saxophone. Also picking up bass guitar a few years later, he was involved in nearly every facet of the school music program right through his senior year at Gorham High School. After high school graduation, he attended Berklee College of Music for a year, and then went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in music education from Plymouth State University.

While a student at Plymouth State, Byrne formed Nostalgic Distortion (ND) with some fellow classmates in October of 1994. For the next ten years, ND would release 3 albums, and perform throughout New Hampshire as well as stints in Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

In 2004 Byrne moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue other musical opportunities. In 2006 he won an audition to become the touring bassist for then newly-signed indie label country artist, Stephen Cochran, a post he would keep for the next 10 years.

In 2013, ND started performing annual reunion benefit shows (for JDRF – Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) at their former stomping grounds, The Lucky Dog Tavern & Grill in Plymouth. In 2020, due to Covid, the annual show was performed virtually via Facebook Live from the band’s rehearsal space – a new tradition that continues to this day.

Byrne is also a music educator, having taught full-time and part-time schedules in both public and private school settings throughout his career. While working as a private music instructor at Knoxville Academy of Music in 2020, the Covid pandemic forced the school to go virtual, teaching all music lessons online. This allowed Byrne to start spending time with his parents in Gorham, as he was able to log in and teach online music lessons from anywhere there was internet access. By early 2021, Byrne had moved back to Gorham full-time. When the academy opened back up for in-person lessons, Byrne stayed on with the school as an online-only instructor. To this day, he still teaches online lessons for Knoxville Academy of Music three nights a week from Tuesday – Thursday.

Moving back to Gorham full-time allowed Byrne to once again start working at the family business that he grew up in – Byrne Auto Center on Main Street in Gorham – owned by his parents, Gloria and Bob Byrne.

“My life is pretty simple these days.”, Byrne says with a smile. “I’m either working at the garage, or teaching music lessons online – and every once in a while, playing a fun little show with ND!”.