JDJB left the Texas Gulf Coast and his fundamentalist Christian background behind for New York City at the age of 24 to pursue dreams of being a playwright. An early play, My Pet Homo (dir. Jon Michael Johnson) starred RuPaul and Mona Foot (aka Nashom Benjamin Wooden, who died early in the 2020 COVID pandemic).

For the better part of the 90s, JDJB was part of the neo-Vaudeville folk duo, Y’all, with Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer. Y’all appeared on The John Stewart Show (MTV), Comedy Central, and on dozens of cable access TV shows. Y’all performed in festivals, folk clubs, retirement homes and Unitarian churches in 40 states across the United States, on the Shetland Islands (Shetland Folk Festival), and in Edinburgh, Scotland (Fringe Festival). For the last two years, Byrd & partner Cheslik-DeMeyer lived on the road in a 20-foot travel trailer. Their documentary, Life in a Box, was released in 2003.

From 2003-2020, JDJB performed with Rude Mechs, Rubber Rep, and Fusebox Festival, in Austin, Texas, where he now resides. He also wrote two memoir performance pieces, both directed by Jenny Larson for Salvage Vanguard Theater: Naked as a Gaybird and (Scenes from) Fumbling for the Knob.

Just before and ever since the Pandemic, Jay works in an office and has turned more toward painting and creating worlds for fish, feline, fowl and reptile. But the theater bug has gotten hold of late. December 2025 brings to Austin The X(mas)ist!, a Grackle Jack Production.