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Jonathan Ashley Byrd (born July 30, 1971), known professionally as Jon Byrd, is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the 1990s southern rock band, Copperhead. The group achieved mainstream success with the release of their 1992 self-titled debut album which spawned four singles, with Whiskey achieving notable success on AOR radio in 1993. By 1994 internal conflicts and growing tension amongst band members led to their complete breakup in 1995, in 1997 Byrd along with fellow Copperhead bassist Tony Hawkins formed a new band named “Jonas Ridge” and released their self-titled debut album, however Jonas Ridge did not last, and by 2000, Byrd and Hawkins formed an alternative rock band named “Hybrid” with John Culberson as lead vocalist and would later rebrand their name to "A Course of Action" in November 2006.
Copperhead is often referred to as the last great southern rock band from the analog era and in the decades since their disbandment has gained a cult-like following from southern rock enthusiasts and still continue to gain new followers due to their song placements in classic movies like Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man and Dr. Giggles.
Copperhead toured nationally with bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, .38 Special, and Foreigner but in 1994 after internal conflicts within the band, being unable to get along to complete tour dates, failure to appear in the studio to work on new material, along with the rise of grunge reduced commercial support for southern rock, Mercury Records terminated the band’s record deal. As tensions continued and the band struggled to function, lead singer Neil Carswell accused other members of jealousy over his public recognition as the band’s frontman. He left the group in early 1995 to pursue a solo career. Byrd, Hawkins, Durden, and Suttlemyre continued briefly with a D.B. Bryant as lead vocalist, though this was short-lived and within months disbanded completely.
In 1997, Jonas Ridge independently released their self-titled debut album, Jonas Ridge. The album featured 11 tracks, including "Talk," "Inside," and "Peace of Mind." Despite the album's moderate success and the band's active performance schedule, Jonas Ridge disbanded in 2000 shortly after they finished recording their second full-length album at Trees Studios in Hickory, North Carolina that went unreleased but later uploaded on the internet by the band members in the early 2020s. The experience and musical synergy from this laid the groundwork for Byrd’s subsequent formation of the next band, A Course of Action.
The group released their first full-length album under the name A Course of Action on May 1, 2011 via the band's own independent record label Spire Records. The album spawned the single “Never There”, which received moderate satellite radio play in 2013
In early 2014 A Course of Action released a demo version of their new song “Who We Are” as a free download on their Reverbnation profile that went viral and achieved great regional success on local and satellite radio, also earning the band a nomination for the “Rock Band of the Year” award at the 2014 North Carolina Music Awards, although they lost to the band "What Happened Yesterday". The widespread success and viral attention “Who We Are” brought to the band led them to being booked to perform at the 2014 Rocklahoma music festival, prompting the band to release a new EP, Rocklahoma, to promote their new material to a national audience.
Byrd continued to achieve success with A Course of Action throughout 2014 which included touring as support for the bands Saving Abel, Tantric, Saliva, Puddle of Mudd, Nothing More, and Halestorm and also performing at the 2014 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally with Buckcherry.
In January 2015 it was announced the band was signing a record deal with Star 1 Music Group to release their new album, which was later revealed to be titled Treason, scheduled for release on June 8, 2015. The album produced the three singles "Beautiful", "107", and "Who We Are" before Byrd announced his departure from the band in April 2016 citing he will be retiring from the music industry. Although the band initially announced plans to continue after Byrd’s exit, A Course of Action has remained on indefinite hiatus and appears to have dissolved.
In 2018 Byrd began teaching music and began giving guitar lessons in his private home studio on top of his other endeavors. In 2024 he announced he opened his home studio commercially and will serve as a session musician or as an in-house producer to patrons.
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