Please go to
KristinaStykos.bandcamp.com to listen and download tracks!
Steve Mayone and Kristina Stykos are second cousins… but they didn’t know that until a few years ago. They lived parallel lives: songwriters, producers, independent artists. In 2006 they met by chance when Steve (who lives in Brooklyn) was playing a gig in Vermont (where Kristina lives) with his buddy Bow Thayer. Upon hearing Steve’s last name announced from the stage, Kristina introduced herself and they discovered their grandparents were siblings. In the first half of the 20th century, the Mayone family were busy brick makers, shipping bricks down the Hudson river where they were used to build such iconic structures in New York City as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Then the company collapsed, and families scattered.
Making up for lost time, Steve and Kristina began playing music together, resulting in their new album Beautiful Blood. Recorded in their home studios (Kristina’s Pepperbox Studio and Steve’s Proofbox Studio), Beautiful Blood combines their different styles into one voice: Americana, folk/rock, ballads, blues, all woven into a single tapestry. With years of writing, performing and production experience under their belts, the making of Beautiful Blood was a joyful culmination of professional compatibility and family time. As Steve said “making the album was a way to spend time together and get to know each other, musically and personally”.
"An album of quiet beauty and marvellous moments." - Jeremy Searle, Maverick Country UK
released October 9, 2012
Produced by Kristina Stykos
Recorded by Kristina Stykos at Pepperbox Studio (Chelsea VT) and by Steve Mayone at Proofbox Studio (Somerville MA).
Mixed by Kristina Stykos with Steve Mayone
Mastered by Oscar Zambrano, Zampol Productions, NYC
Package Design by Rachel Mello
© 2013 Thunder Ridge Records
Cover photo by John Churchman
Additional photos by Michael Millard, Steve Mayone and Kristina Stykos
Steve Mayone - vocals, guitars, bass, lap steel, organ, mandolin, drums
Kristina Stykos - vocals, guitars, bass, mandolin, banjo, piano
Jef Berlin - drums, percussion
Scott Paulson - upright and electric bass
Patrick Ross - fiddle
Jimmy Ryan - mandolin
Please go to
KristinaStykos.com to check out other releases by my awesomely talented cousin!