Mia Dyson

Life and career

When queried by The Sydney Morning Herald on how she went from a settled family life, in the Victorian beachside resort town of Torquay to playing and singing blues and roots music she responded:

"I don't know either, it's a testament to the power of music and how that whole childhood of being played what I consider incredible music seeped into my bloodstream. My parents were always playing the records of Little Feat, Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young, everything. Torquay is devoid of any artistic pursuits and had I only had that culture I'm sure I would not be playing music. I might have had more luck with the alcohol if I'd been left to the surfing culture."

Mia's father is prominent Australian guitar builder and blues guitarist Jim Dyson.

"I guess now people are impressed how lucky I am to have a dad who makes such beautiful instruments," Dyson says. But as a child she was unaware of their potential. "It was only, 'Oh, don't they look beautiful' when he finished one," she says. "It was only around 16, 17, when I was able to think about the sounds and the different sounds I could get out of the guitars, the amps and pedals, that I got excited."

Following the 2003 release of Cold Water Mia went into a continuous touring schedule both in Australia and overseas. Taking in major festivals such as the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival, West Coast Blues & Roots Festival, Falls Festival, Womadelaide, NXNE in Canada and The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland.

2005 saw the release of her second album Parking Lots which resulted in Mia being nominated for "Best Female Artist" and "Best Blues & Roots album" at that year's ARIA Awards, for which she won the "Best Blues & Roots album" award.

The following year (2006), Mia toured the USA and Canada, joined Frank Zappa's band The Mothers of Invention on stage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and supported Ani Di Franco in New York's Central Park. Also in 2006, Dyson was invited by Deborah Conway to take part in the Broad Festival project, with three other Australian female artists, they performed their own and each other's songs. With Dyson and Conway were Melinda Schneider, Kate Miller-Heidke and Ella Hooper.

In 2007, Mia supported Eric Clapton during his Australian tour in February to sellout crowds. She also had a guest appearance on Australian hip hop artist Urthboy's second album The Signal.

In 2009, Mia moved to the east coast of the United States to try to break into the American music scene. She toured continuously, playing clubs and festivals across the country and in 2010, moved to Los Angeles to work with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, but stated "Dave is sort of an eccentric genius character, but we didnʼt have the same ideas and werenʼt really on the same page so it wasnʼt ever going to work, I think". They produced a track together "You and Me" which was part of an EP released in the US in April 2011. Mia opened for Stevie Nicks at the Santa Barbara bowl and Lake Tahoe, NV in late 2010 and then was asked to open a national tour for Chris Isaak. Mia began work on her fourth studio album The Moment in late 2011. Produced by Erin 'Syd' Sidney and Patrick Cupples, the album was recorded in Ojai, California. A track from the sessions Tell Me, was released April 2012 to Mia's mailing list. The first single and video "When the Moment Comes" was released in July 2012. The album The Moment was released in August 2012, debuted at #51 on the ARIA albums chart and was nominated for Best Blues & Roots Album at the ARIA Awards, spawning further singles "Pistol" and "Jesse".

Albums

Compilations

Song appearances in other media

"To Fight is To Lose" from The Moment is featured in the 2012 Bones episode "The Partners in the Divorce."

"When the Moment Comes" is featured on "Saturday Night Football" on Sky Sports as the intro song. It is also featured on the 2014 recruitment television commercial for the Australian Army.