Play Like A Girl: Cynthia Lyon

Play Like A Girl, a music series, curated and hosted by Hartford-based Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Charmagne Glass-Tripp, examines the compelling personal stories about the successes, challenges and triumphs of being a musical artist.

"My dream was to make it big in the music business or at least make a living playing music and at 71 I am happy to say I’m still living the dream." Cynthia Lyon

Third, up in the series is leader/founder/keyboard player/vocalist Cynthia Lyon. Her story goes like this: one morning I sat up in bed and decided I would start a band. I put an ad in the paper that read “Female keyboard player/singer looking to jam or start a band” and I was contacted by a pedal steel guitar player named John Brown. Together we decided to put together a Western Swing band and in 1975, we had formed an 8-piece band that included two of my sisters on backup vocals and a male vocalist, a drummer, bass player, guitarist, John Brown (who would leave the group two years later) on pedal steel, and me on vocals and piano. Having two of my sisters in the band allowed us to have a female vocal trio like the one I had grown up listening to when my mother and her two sisters sang for us at family gatherings. My band was called “Eight to the Bar.” 

Forty-five years (and many personnel changes) later, the band is still going strong and has recorded 12 CDs (the earliest of which were originally recorded on vinyl), toured Europe and the US (including St. Croix) several times, and is currently working on its 13^th CD, “The Light Fantastic."

Play Like A Girl is a streamed online event. It premieres on Thurs., Nov. 19 at 7:30 pm and will be made available on-demand to ticket holders until the end of the year.

Running Time: 45-minutes

For more information about the artists: Cynthia Lyon HERE and Charmagne Glass-Tripp HERE

Play Like A Girl is supported in part by the Betty Knox Foundation and the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign with major support from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.