Tyra Neftzger (pronounced nǝf-zgur), also known as Tyra Elliott, is an American guitarist and composer born November 22, 1975. He's a Nashville, Tennessee session musician and the guitarist and vocalist for the jazz/pop band Lucky Munk [1] as well as lead guitarist and composer for the contemporary Christian band Ka*Pop. In addition to his work with Lucky Munk and Ka*Pop, Tyra has worked on a number of projects[2] in the rock, pop, and jazz genres[3] and has written several articles about music.[4]
Contents |
Tyra was born in Paducah, Kentucky and raised in Illinois on the banks of the Ohio river. He learned to play the guitar from various teachers and began playing for hire and in clubs before he was old enough to drive to his own performances. One of Tyra’s early music teachers was his uncle, Joe Stanley, lead guitarist and keyboardist for country artist Dan Seals. Following his graduation from Pope County High School, Tyra attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduation from Berklee, Tyra moved to Nashville and began working in the music industry as a guitarist by touring with various bands and doing studio work. In 2003 he released an instrumental CD of his original arrangements of traditional Christmas music with a group called “Tyra & Co.” he later followed this with several solo jazz projects.
While Tyra works primarily in rock and pop music, he is strongly influenced by jazz and identifies the genre as one of his favorites. In 2005 Tyra released a children’s book and CD with his wife, author Amy Neftzger. The book, called All That the Dog Ever Wanted, was designed to help introduce children to jazz at a young age. Tyra also helped develop free classroom curriculum for teachers[5] interested in using the book to teach their students about how jazz is different from other genres and to help them understand improvisation.
Tyra is Mr. Neftzger’s given first name. He was named after his grandfather who was also named after his grandfather. While the name Tyra goes back several generations to when his ancestors were still living in Germany, no one in Tyra’s family is certain of the exact meaning other than that it has been a family name and has always been given to male children. Tyra often uses his middle name (Elliott) in place of his given last name Neftzger for the sake of simplicity. Recording credits using his given last name have been frequently misspelled.
Tyra has written several articles about music. Two of these articles, “The Role of Silence in Music[6]” and “Pocket Philosophy[7]” have been quoted by other musicians and artists around the world. While the articles are based on Tyra’s perspective as a musician and orchestrator, they have also been reposted[8] by music sites as well as individuals in other professions who have adopted the philosophy and perspectives described in the articles[9].