Let ‘Em Talk For Himself – Ty Myers in Sacramento with Alex Lambert Opening
Ty Myers gave a sold out crowd a memorable performance last Saturday during Memorial Day Weekend. Myers is on the brink of stardom and adulthood at only 17 years old. He captures nuances and emotion of worldly men while only having graduated high school a couple of years ago.
Alex Lambert opened for Ty Myers on Saturday in Sacramento. Taking his role as supporting act to heart, he was donning Myers’ merch with a “Let ‘Em Talk” hat along with a tucked in white shirt just tight enough to show me all I needed to know. The hems of his wide leg dress pants danced over his well-worn boots, with that Red Dirt still clinging to them all the way from Texas, lookin’ like if Robert Redford left Newman in the desert to pursue music instead of a legacy in filmmaking in the desert. Like Ray LaMontagne and Leon Bridges, he croons with the same impassioned vocals only matched by his masterful guitar picking. Yet that description doesn’t really do it justice.
A testament to his own music and soulful shredding, the sold out crowd was in attendance early to catch Lambert and company on their last stop of the tour. Just coming off their own solo tour a few months prior after the debut album Lonely Avenue dropped in October of last year. Lambert and company exchanged riffs and enthusiastic glances during the performance, drinking up each other’s energy. Coming from a musical background and spending years as a writer in LA for popular artists like Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepson, Lambert is finally stepping out of the shadows and into a…well it’s still a dark room, but now there is a spotlight and it’s lighting his smile and his talent up for the rest of us to finally catch a glimpse–both of which have us swooning. https://alex-lambert.com
The honky tonk heartbreak music of the evening even inspired a couple to put their dancing shoes on. They spun like cotton candy around the sticky floor gathering more space with each rotation, widening the circle for more elaborate and choreographed spins as onlookers politely took steps back, much to the pleasure and envy of the surrounding crowd as spotlights and flashes lit their way as they awaited Ty Myers.
Headlining, and selling out, his first tour, Myers notes his musical influences and how they have paved the way for not only his craft but career. Folksy blues rocker John Mayer, one of his biggest influences, got some stage time on Saturday. No, not like a guest appearance, but in spirit; Myers covered two of his songs, “Daughters” and “Man On The Side,” which also appears on his debut album The Select, which dropped earlier this year.
During my frenzy of research following a new artist or song I can’t get out of my head, I discovered his age. Like finding out the gruff, pained vocals of Warren Zeiders couldn’t even rent a car at the time, Myers’ twist on teenage angst stunned me at only 17 hearing “Drinkin’ Alone” for the first time. Despite the obvious obligatory mention of him being underage and certainly absolutely positively never having a sip of alcohol because it is against the law and would for sure have no idea about what that’s like, I was more floored at the notion of heartbreak and convenient comfort that he captured remarkably well for his age. As someone who can painfully identify with the song’s message, I could never pick myself up off the floor long enough to articulate what he so eloquently and eruditely crooned for us. From the initial wail of the steel guitar at the start of “Drinkin Alone,” you’re instantly sitting in the dark hazy bar, head hung low.
Like reducing your RPMS on vinyl, his vocals match the pace of the instrumentals and imagined drunkenness of the song’s protagonist, slow and a little blurry from one verse to the next illustrating Myers’ ability to bring the emotion to us as active listeners instead of merely witnessing his pain–whether real or imagined. Either way, his penchant for storytelling and music are highlighted here and throughout The Select.
A voracious reader, he drew from his real life literary hero Ernest Hemingway for the title of his debut album, The Select, as the title from a stage adaptation of The Sun Also Rises. His performance mirrored his old school taste in literature too as he was cool, calm, and collected, especially during a lyric mishap at the beginning of his ramblin’ man anthem “Can’t Hold Me Down.”
You may be wondering how such a young person can write about such adult afflictions as grinding the 9-5, losing your woman to the bottle, and downright adultery, but Myers notes that he studies his favorite songs and artists and does his darndest to emulate them. Looks like his formula is working since he’s amassed over 523 million global streams and the loyal fans to match since first uploading music in 2023. You still have time to catch him on tour through the summer, so do yourself a favor and witness talent blooming. Check out his website here: https://www.tymyersmusic.com
