She says she’s a backup singer. I say she’s a headliner.

by Maddalena

A chance encounter on social media with a song called “Under My Skin” by someone named Trysette blew me away with the silky prettiness of her voice and the brokenhearted lyrics. The name looked familiar. I soon found out we had mutual friends. What a song! Is there more? ITUNES said yes; her album entitled Silky Fingers. Perfection from first note to finish. From the sultry “Silky Fingers” title track to the swaying smooth of “Keep Me Dancing,” this album is a gem.

A Serendipitous Encounter

I tracked her down, took her to dinner, and by the end of the night convinced her to let me produce a house concert for her. No easy task, since she only performs on a grand, or real piano, as I call it. A friend of mine offered her home and her instrument and some fifty odd people who had never heard her sing a note showed up. What a night and introduction it was! We did two more special sort of “live stream” lockdown shows in 2020, from the Ranch House Restaurant in Ojai and a regular house in Ventura. Grand pianos are so hard to find!

The Australian Songbird Sings

Trysette hails from Grafton, Australia. She’s a classically trained pianist gone pop. Besides Silky Fingers, she has put out several other albums over the years. Another favorite of mine is Shadow Girl, an album of deliciously selected cover songs—from Carole King’s, “Natural Women”, to Cold Chisel’s “Flame Trees,” to Cold Play’s “Fix You,” with a stop to “Take a Pill in Ibiza.” This musical trapeze artist swings from decades and genres with the greatest of ease on this record.

Her Singing Dream Comes True

In 2019, her backup singer dream came true when John Fogerty took her on his 50 Year Trip concert tour. Trysette has been a "Malonette' for many years, backing up piano man extraordinaire, Bob Malone, on his tours. This fall she will be touring New York and Europe with him. Check for dates on her website. Check for dates on her website. In early 2020, an unknown kid (well, he is in 30s) tracked her down through her Fogerty thing and asked her to collaborate on a song with him. He wanted to rework her “Under My Skin” to a country, from a male’s perspective and since then, Mr. Nate Smith has been signed to Sony Nashville.

Collaborating

Trysette’s musical generosity has led her to go on collaborating with several others; a hip-hopper from Oklahoma named 3Mind Blind and a “Situations” song done ala hip-pop, as I call it, where the male sings rap and the female sings pop. Recently, she did a special song called “People” with a Ukrainian girl (Olya Mova) and a Russian girl (Mariia Tsvetkova) at the onset of the war. Just beautiful.

Welcome to SSSH

Despite her penchant for teaming up and backing up, she will always be the singer/songwriter in the center stage spotlight to me. I love her music and her lyrics and the beautiful spirit that conveys them. My musical passion is the singer/songwriter. So check out the Australian Songbird, the third in my SSSH (Singer/Songwriter/Serendipitous/Homage) series. You shall be glad you did!! Thanks for reading and listening!