Don Botch: Cody Tyler & Gypsy Convoy gets to the roots of country music with 'Stare Your Demons Down'

May 11—Everything changed for Cody Tyler that day in his early teens when he descended the steps leading to his grandmother's basement in search of his mom's old albums.

He was on the hunt for Southern rock records by the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the music he had been raised on, but instead stumbled upon a collection of old country albums — Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard — that belonged to his grandfather, who died before Cody was born.

"That just totally shifted my world view away from more of the pop country I was listening to at the time, along with the Southern rock and the blues," the 27-year-old singer-songwriter from Shillington said. "It turned me toward this rootsy country sound that the outlaws developed in the 1970s, and to this day, after listening to all those records, I hold that Merle Haggard is probably the greatest to ever do this thing, as far as country music is concerned.

"It opened my eyes to the old country (music), and there's a lot of new country out there that's being made that sounds like that stuff, and that's what we are trying to do. We're kind of trying to be a part of that movement."

Talent and dreams

The "we" he is alluding to is Cody Tyler & Gypsy Convoy, a four-piece traditional country band that's releasing its debut album, "Stare Your Demons Down," on Friday, and celebrating it with a CD release show Saturday at 7 p.m. at Bellevue Plaza Hall, Muhlenberg Township.

Tyler comes with credentials and has big aspirations.

He made it into the Top 150 vocalists from among thousands on Season 14 of NBC's "The Voice," and was runner-up in the Tumbleweed Country Music Festival's 2019 Rising Star Talent Search, which featured over 300 acts from the U.S. and Canada. He also was nominated for best male vocalist and best country artist for the 2020 Central Pennsylvania Music Awards, and best country band for the 2021 Central Pennsylvania Music Awards.

With his genuine, down-home approach, and no shortage of talent on guitar and vocals, Tyler aspires to put Pennsylvania on the map as far as country music goes.

"We want to emerge as one of the top country acts in Pennsylvania," he said, "because Pennsylvania, in the middle, is country, and we're trying to break that mindset of people thinking country music can only come from the South or the West. There is country up here in the Rust Belt, and we want to make that statement with this album, that we're here, we're from PA, and we can play just as good as Kentucky, Texas and Tennessee guys."

Honest-to-goodness country

The album, which was mastered by Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer Pete Lyman in Nashville, is full of songs about love and money, god and country, guns and glory, ramblers and gamblers.

Tyler comes by this music honestly. An outdoorsman at heart, he walks the walk when it comes to his lyrics. They are reflective of his own life. He's been known to break out paper and pen hiding out in a tree stand while out in the woods. He grew up hunting with his dad, who wanted to hand down that family tradition from his own father.

Family resonates as a theme throughout the album in songs like "Eagle Tattoo" and "Drop That Needle (Grandad's Vinyl)," which starts out with the scratch of a needle touching vinyl.

He wrote "Eagle Tattoo" for his kid brother, Ryan Youse, who at 18 joined the military, just as their grandfather and great-uncle had.

"I got a tattoo of an eagle with dogtags with their names on it years ago," Tyler said, "and I wrote that song as a letter to my brother while he was in basic training, hoping the day would never come when he would be on my arm, in my eagle tattoo. And luckily enough he's avoided that. He's alive and well. He's serving in Korea right now."

"Drop That Needle" recalls a grandfather who died too young.

"That's dealing with that demon of somebody who could've been a huge influence on your life being gone," he said, "but in a way he's still an influence on me because we stumbled upon his record collection, which is what led me to country music in the first place."

As the album title suggests, the 10 tracks deal with the demons he — and we — confront every day.

"There are some other songs on there dealing with struggling with alcohol, struggling with depression," Tyler said. "'Blessed Life,' I wrote it before COVID, but it could very well be about somebody who's struggling with keeping their life on track during COVID."

Meeting of the minds

The band has already released two singles — "Fate I Can't Outrun" and "Playin' With Firewater" — and the third and final single, the acoustic "Still That Never Goes Dry," will be released Friday.

"Playin' With Firewater" is a burner that bassist Kenny "Play" Peffley helped Tyler flesh out back when the two were playing in a cover band together. Peffley then encouraged Tyler to keep going.

"I saw Cody and I thought, 'Whatever we gotta do, I'm going to make this work with him,'" Peffley said.

Together they would woodshed some of the other original songs Tyler had in his back pocket, adding bass parts and enhancing the melodies.

Tyler credits Peffley and his steely resolve with getting him to focus on original music.

"Kenny is a fantastic bass player," Tyler said, "and he's the driving force behind keeping us all motivated and going on an upward trajectory and growing."

Peffley also was instrumental in bringing Ken Mettam, a Berklee College of Music-trained drummer, onboard, as well as Lenny Casper, whose keyboards round out the sound.

In the band's formative days, they would gather in Mettam's garage in Palo Alto, Schuylkill County, to write some of the songs that would end up on this album.

"We were writing them over the heat of a coal-burning stove in the middle of winter," Tyler said, "so if it sounds like it came out of the mountains, that's probably why."

Tyler said he's been playing guitar and singing since he was a kid, but only started playing out at the encouragement of a college girlfriend, and even then saw it merely as a side hustle while he pursued his teaching degree.

"Then Gregg Allman died," he said, "and that was like the catalyst that made me go, 'OK, life is short, you enjoy doing this, you enjoy writing songs, people seem to like the songs, why not try to make this your full-blown career?' So ever since that day that Gregg Allman passed, that's kind of been my goal."

An old soul

An old soul and proud of it, Tyler is unfazed by being the youngest member, by far, in the group.

"I have been called an old soul since I was in the eighth grade," he said. "My eighth-grade history teacher, who inspired me to want to teach social studies, wrote in my year book that I was an old soul, and that was the first time I ever heard that. I asked my mom what that was, and she goes, 'It's exactly what you are.'"

"And I am actually a young soul, believe it or not," Peffley noted, "so that matches up really good."

Tyler feels blessed to have so much experience backing him.

"They've been around," he said of his bandmates. "They know what they're doing. Once you get past the idea they look so much older than you, forget that, just close your eyes and listen to the music. Age is just a number. If it works, it works, and with these three guys and me together, it works."

Peffley recently overcame a health scare that had him down and out for a few months, but he's back now and the band has a busy summer lined up, with gigs in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York, but they hope to eventually take their show on the road across the country.

"That's our end goal," Tyler said, "to be a touring act."

If you go

Event: Cody Tyler & Gypsy Convoy CD release show

When: 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, with doors at 5:30

Where: Bellevue Plaza Hall, 3400 Plaza Drive, Muhlenberg Township

Tickets: $20 at eventbrite.com

By the way: The new album "Stare Your Demons Down" is available Friday on all streaming platforms, with CDs availabe at codytylermusic.com and at Saturday's show. Vinyl pre-orders are being taken at codytylermusic.com, where you can also view their upcoming schedule.