Lafemmebear demonstrated her knack for reviving country classics with her remix/reimagining of Reba’s “I’m a Survivor.” She crafted the song with Mya Byrne on guitar, and the two have made lightning strike twice with their cover of Johnny Cash’s “Still Miss Someone.”
The pair trade verses on this Johnny Cash deep cut. The muted production gives space for Cash’s lonely lyrics to take the forefront — fitting for a Valentine’s Day release. The subtle electric drums give the song immediacy, while the swooning guitars match Lafemmebear and Byrne’s anguished performances.
“We created this in my studio last fall up north in NorCal in my lil cabin property in the woods. Just me Mya Byrne and my studio in the forest and a bunch of guitars,” Lafemmebear explained to Adobe & Teardrops. “She introduced me to the song as I’d never heard this particular Johnny Cash record before. I was so moved by it and we both just started tinkering on keys and organ and guitar and then this came out. We later sent it to Mickey Guyton’s lap steel player, Phillip Bronchtein, and he added amazing lap steel that really just takes it to a whole new dreamy place.”
Lafemmebear and Mya Byrne are both trans country trailblazers. “I’m a Survivor” blazed up the Billboard charts, making Lafemmebear the first Black trans music producer ever to earn a Billboard Top Ten-chart spot. Byrne’s upcoming album, Rhinestone Tomboy, is the first album on Kill Rock Star’s Nashville imprint. Her recent music video “It Don’t Fade” is in rotation on CMT. Its broadcast marked the first known kiss between two transfemme people in broadcast television history.
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