Album Notes

You might not know it, but there’s a good chance that singer/songwriter Tim Blane is already inside your computer. As the new face of Apple’s Garageband music software, Tim is now in millions of homes teaching guitar and piano lessons. Yet with the upcoming 2009 release of Tim’s third album, “Trace,” it’s clear that his first passion is still to write and perform his original music.

Armed with pop hooks, a soulful voice, and a songwriting style seeped in jazz, rock, and blues, Blane has spent the last 4 years touring clubs and colleges around the country, and steadily building a fan base by word of mouth. Of course, playing on the Crocs college tour with oneRepublic and Fabolous, performing on shows like CBS’s “SRO” and Comcast Channel’s “Backstage,” and being named (along with acts like Lady Gaga and The Virgins) an Artist to Watch in 2009 by CAA/Intelligence Group’s “Cassandra Report” has certainly helped generate even more buzz.

Tim’s band is equally impressive. Collectively they have performed with acts as diverse as NeYo, The Roots, jam-band Jiggle the Handle, and jazz legend Gary Burton. In early 2009 they began recording Blane’s latest album, “Trace,” which will be released as a series of EP’s during the course of the year. Like Blane’s previous studio albums, Trace is produced by Chris Keup and Stewart Myers (Jason Mraz, Lifehouse, Mandy Moore) and is an expansion of Tim’s catchy and honest songwriting.

Blane’s music is quickly garnering accolades as well. In the past year he and his band were voted to play Boston’s “Earthfest” with Cake and Cracker, they were nominated for a Boston Music Award, and made it to the finals of the Starbucks/NEMO Songwriting Competition for the second year in a row. In addition, Tim’s song, Tennessee, recently won the $5000 grand prize from Ourstage.com.

They have performed with national acts like Guster, KT Tunstall, Sister Hazel, and Mike Doughty, and have showcased at CMJ, the NACA National Conference, and the NEMO and Verge conferences in Boston. They were featured in Miller Genuine Draft’s “The Craft” promotion, and were selected for a Coke promotion through “MyCokeRewards.com.” Tim was also hired by producer Scott Storch to write ringtones for Pepsi.
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Blane’s previous self-released albums (2005’s “In the Meantime” and 2007’s “Clockwork”) have sold more than 5000 copies each. Metronome Magazine said Clockwork is “filled with lush instrumentation, beautifully clever prose, and songs that make the heart remember…a masterful body of work.” Insite Magazine said, “A close inspection of Blane's ‘In the Meantime’ disc unearths a deeply talented musician and honest lyricist.” And Northeast Performer Magazine wrote that Blane’s albums are “chock full of tunes bound to stay in your head long after the music ends.”