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Apr 05, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Lauren Tabak

Later this month, rising singer/songwriter Mya Byrne is set to share her forthcoming album, Rhinestone Tomboy, out April 28th via Kill Rock Stars Nashville. The record follows her 2014 solo debut, As I Am, and sees Byrne cultivating a layered style of Americana steeped in influences from blues, glam rock, and country music, all produced by Nashville singer/songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan.

The record is a vivid document of Byrne’s last several years, with some songs written during the 2018 California wildfires, some during lockdown, some in the weeks following the death of John Prine, and some written as Byrne was getting sober. As Byrne describes, the record came about as she integrated herself even more deeply into her music, with the final product acting as a true reflection of Byrne in all her complexity.

Byrne has already teased the record with a series of singles, “Autumn Sun,” “It Don’t Fade,” “Lend You a Hand,” and “Come On.” Most recently, she also shared a biting one-off release, “Burn This Statehouse Down.” The track is a protest song directed toward the slew of recent anti-trans laws, which Byrne wrote in collaboration with fellow trans country singer Paisley Fields. Today, Byrne is back with another new single from the record, “I’m Gonna Stop,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“I’m Gonna Stop” is a sunlit and melodic country tune, carried effortlessly by Byrne’s silken vocals and winding guitar lines. It captures Byrne in a reflective mode, perfectly balancing melancholy with a sense of gentle warmth as she sings of taking a break from love: “I’m gonna stop lovin’ a while / I’m gonna stop dreaming of your smile / I’m gonna stop feeling so alone and so blue / I’m gonna stop lovin’.” The result is a classic gem of keening country rock, offering a jangly detour through Byrne’s inner world.

Byrne says of the track, “Sometimes, I’m lucky enough to catch fire — I’ll be in the middle of a rehearsal or even a live solo performance, and get a feeling in my gut, like when you know it’s time to say ‘I love you’ to someone you haven’t said it to yet — and I’ll improvise a complete song into my recorder. And that’s what happened here, in a full-rock session. I had a ton on my mind that day — specifically, how much I still felt connected to a former partner from years before, and how so many of my other relationships had, in some way, replayed that. I liked the idea of taking a break from being in love with people, acknowledging how a first kiss can drive an entire new relationship, and how, at least for that time frame, it might be a good idea to just go back to how I was as a child, before certain kinds of relationships were present in my life, before I so often was driven by the excitement of those new relationships, to get some perspective.

Although I presented the song to Aaron Lee Tasjan as a country waltz, he heard it differently, and we worked it into the jangly 4/4 country-rock song it became in the studio, and my friends Lance Horne and Lauren Elder, both incredible Broadway composers, helped me shape the final lyrics while I was in NYC demoing the record.”

Check out the song early below. Rhinestone Tomboy is out on April 28th via Kill Rock Stars Nashville.