Mia Dyson had just started working on her new album the night her heart stopped. In the aftermath of an earthquake that rattled her Los Angeles home, Dyson experienced an undiagnosed arrhythmia which caused her to suddenly and unexpectedly stop breathing. As she recalls, she was somewhere else entirely in the fateful moments that followed – a place of “darkness and nothingness” – while her husband and songwriting partner Karl Linder remembers finding her hunched against the wall of their bedroom with “lifeless eyes that almost looked wooden.” Thanks to Linder’s quick response, Dyson was rushed to the hospital in just enough time to save her life. Now with an implanted defibrillator, she was left to take stock of life after such a close call. Already renowned as a songwriter and performer – an ARIA winner in Australia for Best Blues and Roots Album, Dyson has been voted as one of her home country’s “25 Best Guitar Players Of All Time” by the Herald Sun newspaper and has been tapped to open for Stevie Nicks and Bonnie Raitt – she returned to this new project with a deep sense of perspective and an open-hearted embrace of all that was almost lost. The result is Tender Heart, a fittingly-titled collection of ten songs that stand tall as life-affirming, grippingly honest and unapologetically joyful all at once. Tender Heart finds a topic that’s nearly beyond words handled deftly with intimacy and nuance by a long-respected craftsperson of her field.
Says Dyson, “I remember it was peaceful being (mostly?) dead. I was far far away and nothing was wrong. And then as Karl got me breathing again I came back into my body, slowly and terribly, as I started to feel my limbs and try to comprehend what was going on. I couldn’t talk or move at first and felt completely pinned down. But I could hear Karl’s voice saying ‘thank you for coming back to me’ over and over again. After that experience, I was able to cherish the time in the studio with my band like never before. I felt the gravity of the fact that it could easily not have happened. We took time with it. We shared the experience and the load. How grateful I feel to have more time on earth and with my dear friends and collaborators: Syd Sidney on drums, Daniel Wright on bass and background vocals, Lee Pardini on keys and Scott Hirsch on the production, engineering, mixing and extra guitars.”
Recommended Tracks: Track 6, “Thank You,” Track 7, “These Words,” Track 2, “Ragged Friend,” Track 5, “Sunny Hills”
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