No foolin'...Nomination for BEST INSTRUMENTALIST in MAMAs

No foolin'...I am proud to announce that I'm a nominee in this year's Madison Area Music Award (MAMAs) for BEST INSTRUMENTALIST! The next round of voting will begin any minute now and go until early May...your support would be very much appreciated.

Also nominated is my manager/duo partner/cowriter and pal Randy Green - nominated for BEST RECORDING STUDIO. And, one of Randy's songs, "Home Movies, recorded this year by Robert J, is nominated under BEST FOLK-AMERICANA SONG.

Voting is open to the public...it costs $5 to vote (done online) but the proceeds of this program benefit school music programs. In particular, the money raised helps to purchase instruments for school children and for after-school programs such as those run by the Boys and Girls Club. See these links to participate:
Broadjam (where you sign up to vote)
MAMAs site

NOTE: When you vote on the Broadjam site you'll have the chance to click and listen to music so please take time to sample the Madison music scene! In addition to raising money for school music programs, that's what this is all about. It's easy to get swept up in the competition and all that, but the bottom line is that this is a chance for musicians and listeners to really get to know our local music scene. There are many wonderful musicians nominated in many categories, several that I have had the pleasure to work with, including the Mud Angels (blues song), Laura England (female vocalist), Ben Johnston-Urey (classical song, classical album), Robert J (a number of nominations), Subvocal (unique song, unique artist), Christine Costanzo (folk/Americana artist), Tret Fure (folk/Americana album)...and many others, so please use this opportunity to check them out, and vote for what you like best!

New Compilation CD by Indie Music for Life

3/26/2008: I have a track on a new compilation CD put out by Indie Music for Life, an organization whose mission is "Fighting cancer one song at a time with the support of independent singer songwriters worldwide."

The CD is the 2008 Indie Music For Life compilation CD and you'll find it at this link: http://www.indiemusicforlife.org/shop.html
It is a double disc set that features 37 artists/songs from around the world and retails for $12.

There are other projects/products available as well, and your purchases help support cancer research and IMFL's programs for educational awareness on the benefits of music and laughter as therapy to cancer patients. In addition to purchasing products you can also make donations through their site.

Welcome

9/8/2007: Hello folks - I'm trying this system for posting news bits! So just a few updates on what's new in "Tracy Jane" world.

I've spent much of this year so far concentrating on collaborative shows with some fabulous musicians, most of them fairly local to Madison (Dave Schindele, Nancy Rost, Michael Bryant, Nelson Graham, Tret Fure, and also Alaria Taylor of Milwaukee) but some from farther away (Joe Jencks from Ohio, and Rachel Nelson from Minnesota). I've really been enjoying the chance to play various instruments and sing harmonies in addition to having these fine folks contribute to some of my tunes!

A couple of group collaboratives have been born of those efforts: 3 of Cups (3ofcups.info), with Rachel Nelson and Michael "Styx" Kiley plus sometimes special guests, and Likely Stories (likelystories.us), with Dave Schindele and Nancy Rost. I will look forward to performing with each of these entities a few times a year. Likely Stories is actually working on a collaborative CD which will hopefully be out before the end of 2007.

I'll be heading to North Carolina for a couple of shows in early October...then back home and will be again taking a bit of a breather mostly from performing for a while to continue working on some new material. I still plan to release a CD soon that will be all or mostly all guitar instrumentals (some with added instrumentation including cello and hammered dulcimer), but may also release a second CD that will include vocal pieces. Stay tuned...or in tune....as the case may be.

-Tracy