Mia Dyson

Mia Celeste Dyson (born 1981) is an Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist.

She has released six studio albums.

Mia Dyson was born in 1981 in a mud brick home built by her parents near Daylesford.

Her father, Jim Dyson, is a blues guitarist and luthier.

The family moved to Torquay when she was eight.

For secondary schooling she attended Matthew Flinders Girls High School, Geelong.

When queried by The Sydney Morning Herald's reporter 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, Dyson 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."

"I went through my early teenage Nirvana, Pearl Jam obsessions and then I came back to the roots of this stuff and picked up the guitar. And I knew how to play these songs that I'd never learnt because I'd heard them so many times as a kid."

She described her father's hand made guitars:

"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."

Dyson played her first gig at a party in Modewarre and followed with shows at the Barwon Club and at the National Hotel in Geelong.

She then relocated to Melbourne, where her first residency, in November 2000, was at the Dan O'Connell Hotel, Fitzroy with her backing band comprising Dean Addison on bass guitar and Carl Pannuzzo on drums.

Dyson released her first album, Cold Water, in May 2003 via Black Door Records and distributed by Shock Records.

It was produced by Dyson with Lloyd Barratt – her audio engineer and sometime domestic partner.

For the album she provided lead vocals, guitars (acoustic, baritone, electric, lap steel) and piano.

Her backing band were Daniel Farrugia on drums and Lucas Taranto on bass guitar.

The Age's Patrick Donovan opined, "[she] blew audiences away with her powerfully emotive voice and dynamic guitar playing on her debut album Cold Water. But the songwriting was a little one-dimensional."

She supported the album by touring both Australia and internationally: East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival, West Coast Blues & Roots Festival, Falls Festival, Womadelaide, NXNE (Canada) and Edinburgh Festival (Scotland).

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2003 it was nominated for the ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album.

Her second, Parking Lots, won the ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2005.

Dyson released her second album, Parking Lots, in April 2005.

She produced the album with recording partly occurring in a back yard shed at her grandfather's home in Moonee Ponds.

Nick Launay mixed the album and studio musicians included Renée Geyer and Matt Walker.

The Sydney Morning Herald's reporter described her sound as "strongly into soulful rock, folk and country."

Donovan reflected, "she demonstrates the maturity to let her voice and playing soar. Dyson puts her newfound maturity down to experience and confidence gained from two years on the road, playing everywhere from women's prisons to three months overseas as a solo artist."

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2005 she won Best Blues and Roots Album and was nominated for the ARIA Award for Best Female Artist.

In 2006, Dyson toured the United States and Canada, she performed with 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.

In August of that year she 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.

They toured the mainland state and territory capital cities.

In 2007 Dyson supported Eric Clapton during his Australian tour in February to sell out crowds.

She also had a guest appearance on Australian hip hop artist Urthboy's second album, The Signal.

For her third album, Struck Down, Dyson used Angus Diggs (Jeff Lang, Monkeyboy) on drums and James Haselwood on bass guitar.

She co-produced it with Barratt.

The Signal was released in August 2007 and it peaked at No. 74 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

Since 2013, Dyson has concurrently released music under the name Dyson, Stringer & Cloher with Liz Stringer and Jen Cloher.