Zygo and the Deuce :: Official Site

Born out of the solitude that comes with life on the road, John Michael Zygo (aka Zygo) and Harold Barnard II (aka The Deuce) discovered a similar love for writing country songs. They decided to become the next big thing in country music, country music just doesn't know it yet. Hopefully Zygo and The Deuce and their first release "From the Road" will help alert the rest of the country music community. The album comes from a year and a half of touring together and experiencing life on a bus and living out of hotels.

"With this album we hoped to capture the spirit of life on the road. There's a lot of longing and heartache that go along with this lifestyle and some of that is portrayed in songs like "Southern Comfort Me" and "Wrong Side of the Bed". But there is also a lot of fun and excitement that comes from seeing different towns every week, meeting all sorts of different people and letting the road heal some wounds the only way it can: with lots of drinking! We tried to portray these aspects in songs like "Table 23", "Three Wise Men", and "I Wanna Believe Again".

This album is mostly about our lives and the things that have happened to us over the course of the last two years. Some good, some bad. All of it worth writing about." -The Deuce

Harold Barnard II was born on a cattle farm outside the small town of Ogallala, NE. Country music was all around. Most of it was the older, more traditional country. I was raised on Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. But it was a George Strait song, "I Can Still Make Cheyenne" that really turned me on to the songwriting aspect of country music. I loved the story line in that song, as well as the heartwrenching ending.

I definitely had an older sound in mind when I wrote things like "Wrong Side of the Bed". But I like a lot of the new country as well. I think "Three Wise Men" has a great contemporary sound. We tried to bring a healthy dose of both styles to this album and just throw them together and see what happened." With this album we hope that people from both sides of the country music community can find something to appreciate.

J. Michael Zygo grew up in the apple country of western New York. Country music may not have been the largest genre in the area but it certainly had a significant presence. “I remember my parents playing tapes in the car on the way to my grandparents. My brother and I would sing along to Alabama, Dolly Parton, and Kenny Rogers. I was reintroduced to country several years ago when I bought a Keith Urban CD for a friend. He already had it and I figured, oh well, I guess I’ll keep it. I couldn’t take it out of my CD player! I’ve been influenced largely by the newer rock and pop styles of country, but I still love listening to Cash, Willie, and Merle. We hope that people interested in every kind of music will find something on our album that they can appreciate, or at least tap their foot to.”