Sweet Ghosts

Hailing from the windswept desert of Tucson, AZ, Sweet Ghosts is the project of singer-songwriter Ryan Alfred and vocalist Katherine Byrnes. At once familiar and mysteriously unique, they combine “stunning, unpredictable harmonies” (Tucson Weekly) with a colorful instrumental palette where acoustic folk instruments blend with orchestral touches and subtle Brian Eno-inspired synthesizers, with songs that “sound like late afternoon...when winter's coming” (MySpiltMilk.com).

Ryan and Katherine are both quite seasoned musicians in their own right. Ryan spent 5 years playing upright bass and singing harmonies in the celebrated Tucson band Calexico, and currently tours with Telluride Bluegrass Festival winners Run Boy Run. Katherine has traveled to China and back as the lead singer of The University of Arizona Big Band, as well as a stint as a background singer for Americana star Amos Lee. She has an album of duets with famed pianist-arranger Jeff Haskell (Linda Ronstadt) coming out in 2017 and continues to sell out concerts all over Arizona.
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Together, they have toured as far east as New Orleans, as far north as Seattle, and crossed the border for a concert in Hermosillo, Mexico, sharing their unique brand of Americana. They’ve opened shows for Calexico, AJ Croce, Head For The Hills, and Shane Alexander, as well as live spots and airplay on radio stations like LA’s KCSN, Tucson’s KXCI, New Orleans’ WWOZ, and many others.

“The two have crafted a sound that smartly nods to their previous work without relying on it”, says the Midland Reporter-Telegraph of their debut album “Certain Truths”, a 10-song collection Zocalo Magazine called “a gloriously heart-wrenching debut”. Their followup 7” single “Wreckage” was hailed by Phoenix New Times as “their best song to date…so many brilliant musical moments contained in its three minutes that it's almost overwhelming”.
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The two are currently home in Tucson, working on new material for a new album, slated for a mid-2017 release. They will be touring lightly in 2017 and periodically releasing new demos via SoundCloud.