I would like to know as much information as you can share about country singer Tracy Byrd.
—Ann T., Maryland
Tracy Byrd, 38, was born in Vidor, Texas (pop. 11,440), and started performing around nearby Beaumont, taking over the headliner spot at a honky tonk called Cutters in 1990 from Nashville, Tenn.-bound Mark Chesnutt (Brother Jukebox). Byrd's own Nashville record contract came about two years later, which led to hits such as Keeper of the Stars and Watermelon Crawl. He's releasing a greatest hits album this month. The avid outdoorsman hosts two shows on the Outdoor Channel, and he and his wife, Michelle, own Kitchen Koncepts, a store that sells cookware and Byrd's own line of spices and marinades. The couple has three children and lives in Beaumont. "My friends and family are all here, or in the surrounding areas," he says. "It's the people I was raised with, hang out with in my spare time and share my success with. I always feel sort of anxious on the way home from the road, like I just can't wait to get there."
