Byron Metcalf

Specializing in shamanic trance drumming, Byron Metcalf operates as a musician, producer, and educator from his Arizona home. He began working professionally behind the kit at age 15 and appeared on successful releases such as Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler before completing a Ph.D. in transpersonal psychology. Among his many new-age releases are multiple projects with composer Steve Roach.

Turning his attention toward healing work rather than session playing in the late 1980s, Metcalf issued the solo album Helpers, Guides & Allies: Navigating the Shamanic Landscape in 1998. Two years later came the Roach collaboration The Serpent’s Lair, followed by the self-released second solo album Not Without Risk in 2001. Later projects included the 2003 album Wachuma’s Wave and 2004’s Mantram, both recorded with Roach and Mark Seelig, as well as 2005’s The Shaman’s Heart, on which Metcalf played drums alongside rattles, beads, udu, and seed pods. A Warning from the Elders appeared in 2007; the following year Nada Terma, another joint effort with Roach and Seelig, marked his first release on Projekt Records. Induction: Breathe, Surrender, Repeat arrived in 2009.

Throughout the 2010s Metcalf maintained a steady output of meditative, drum-centered recordings. Dream Tracker, made with Roach and Dashmesh Khalsa, surfaced in 2010. Both The Shaman’s Heart II: The Healing Journey and Earth Om: Sacred Resonance followed in 2012, the latter incorporating gong, didgeridoo, om chanting, and nature recordings. Early 2013 brought Tales from the Ultra Tribe with Roach, while Medicine Work with Rob Thomas of Inlakesh and the solo Holiday Shamanic Journeys also appeared that year. The Seelig collaboration Intention and Metcalf’s own A Healing the Earth Journey were released in 2014. In 2015 he issued Monuments of Ecstasy (Metcalf/Roach/Thomas), the solo The Strong & Powerful Heart Meditation, and The Spirit of Healing with Sandra Ingerman. Earth Luminous, a 2016 pairing with electronic musician Erik Wøllo, preceded two further albums that same year: Shamanic Trance Dance, featuring guests on synthesizers, chants, and drones, and Inner Rhythm Meditations. Early 2018 saw the release of They Were Here, a collaboration with vocalist Jennifer Grais.