Country star Tracy Byrd returns to Nashville, performing at Brown County Music Center

The Byrd will perch Sept. 22 at Brown County Music Center.

Multi-platinum country star Tracy Byrd has one of those low voices, and he says no one's bass range has aged as well as Merle Haggard's, although Byrd hopes his will. In fact, Byrd's low register is his favorite part of his voice, and he has always let Haggard inspire him on those way-down Fs and Gs.

Between 1992 and 2009, Byrd did more than 4,000 shows throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia.

That kind of touring can "eat you from the inside out," he said over the phone last month. "I was not paying attention to the other things in my life that mattered." After awhile he thought, "You can do this another way." One of those ways was to stop drinking. He has now been sober for 13 years.

He did no performing from 2010-2013, but in 2014 he returned to music — and a plan for honoring time with his wife, sons and daughter.

Today his music is just part, not all, of his days. He says he likes it better this way. Stepping back from work can be savage for ambitious people, and Byrd admitted his need to succeed, to "avoid failure," drives him, perhaps compulsively. But his new focus on moderation is making him happier. So is that absence of alcohol, which he said "muddles the mind."

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Byrd originally became a big name in country music in 1993 with "Holdin' Heaven," his third single, on his self-titled first album. The song made No. 1 on the Billboard country charts. Also on that album was his cover of Johnny Paycheck's "Someone to Give my Love to," another hit, and this one extra special to Byrd, since Paycheck had always been one of his favorites. The album sold more than 500,000 copies.

Paycheck isn't the only performer Byrd likes to cover. Singing other people's songs is a way to entertain himself, he said.

In June 2016 Byrd embarked on his first project in 10 years, his album "All American Texan," recorded in Tyler, Texas. It features eight tracks written by Byrd. He plans to sneak in a few of those songs in his Brown County show, but not too many. After all, fans like to hear the old stuff, the songs they grew up with.

He's excited to be back in Brown County, particularly because in the 1990s and early 2000s he used to perform at the Little Nashville Opry (a rustic building on Nashville's outskirts that once presented country music shows in a cozy atmosphere).

"Performers like to do their new albums, but new albums aren't that important. Before you know it, there goes 30 minutes of the show. It's better to just squeeze in one new song here and there."

So fans needn't worry. Byrd said he has plenty of favorite numbers in his nest.

Tracy Byrd at Brown County Music Center

WHAT: County singer Tracy Byrd

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22

WHERE: 200 Maple Leaf Blvd., Nashville

TICKETS: $22-$95 at ticketmaster.com/tracy-byrd-nashville-indiana-09-22-2022/event/05005CA9CEC56434, 812-988-5323.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Country's Tracy Byrd returns to Nashville, at Brown County Music Center