Another excellent acoustic track From Madison Wisconsin! Comer dances all over the strings with shimmering note flurries and dynamic flair. (re: Song "Inside Passage"Detailed Bio
An international award-winning songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist influenced by a wide range of musical experiences, Tracy Jane Comer has been described as "a musical force" (Kweevak’s Tracks). Her current repertoire includes tunes from dozens of artists from today and past decades in many styles in addition to some of her own award-winning originals.
Named Instrumentalist of the Year by the Madison Area Music Awards (2008), Comer is often noted for her intricate fingerstyle guitar work plus impressive skills on piano/keyboards, cello, fiddle (violin and viola), electric bass, and hammered dulcimer, and she also dabbles with drums. She was featured in Guitar Player Magazine in June 2009. She has also been nominated numerous times by the Madison Area Music Awards (MAMAs) in various categories including Best Acoustic Artist (2004, 2005), Best Acoustic Album (2004, 2005), Folk/Americana Artist of the Year (2007), Jazz Song of the Year (2011), Jazz Album of the Year (2011), Folk/Americana Album of the Year (2011). She was tapped for a coveted performance spot at the MAMAs ceremony in 2006, a performance reviewed as the standout of the evening by by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Her multi-flavored original music has been heard on MTV and on hundreds of radio and TV stations on four continents. She has opened or shared shows with notables such as Dar Williams, Willy Porter, The Wailin' Jennys, Holly Near, L.J. Booth, Ellis Paul, Peter Mulvey, Nathan Rogers, Joe Jencks, and other national acts. She has also performed as supporting artist on cello with Holly Brook, now known as Grammy-nominated artist Skylar Grey. The MTV show Made has featured her music on several episodes, and she has received radio airplay around the world.
Originally from the south but now based in Madison, WI, Tracy has been called "North Carolina's gift to Wisconsin." She studied music at various institutions in North Carolina and Wisconsin at undergraduate and graduate levels, and has been performing professionally since she was a young teen, in school and as a church musician, plus accompanying for musical theater and for vocalists and instrumentalists, and playing for weddings using piano and guitar. Later she also began playing professionally as a solo cellist and chamber musici
an. Comer began a focus as a solo entertainer, including her original vocal and instrumental music, in the late 1990s. Currently she performs mainly near her current base in Madison, WI, with occasional tours in surrounding areas and in her native state of NC.
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Additional Background
Tracy was born and spent her youth in North Carolina (Wilmington and Raleigh), and has been called "North Carolina's gift to Wisconsin." She is now based in Madison, WI where she lives with her husband, Allen. She studied music at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Peace College, East Carolina University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (graduate level). She has an extensive musical background that includes collegiate study in classical piano, cello, theory, and musicology, plus extensive private instruction in violin, voice, and guitar (classical and acoustic fingerstyle).
Comer began a focus as a solo entertainer, including her original vocal and instrumental music, in the late 1990s. She had already at that point had involvement with folk, pop/rock, choral and theater music, jazz, country, bluegrass, Celtic music, and many things in between.
As a pianist, Tracy has had years of performing experience starting at age 13, accompanying for choirs, churches, instrumentalists, vocalists, and musical theater. Having started those activities as a self-taught pianist before ever having lessons, her talent and passion for music were quickly recognized by a favorite aunt and by school teachers who combined to encourage and facilitate her musical education, with the former (the late Jane Stephens -- hence Tracy's use of her own middle name as tribute) providing both funds and transportation to lessons, recitals, and competitions. Later she added other instruments to her skillset including guitar and cello, playing professionally as a solo cellist and chamber musician. As an adult she has added additional instruments to her performing arsenal including fiddle (violin and viola), hammered dulcimer, bass, and even drums. She has also composed, conducted and arranged for choirs, handbells, and instrumental ensembles.
"This singer/songwriter is key to moving the whole darn genre forward. Her sound is mature and soaked with talent throughout…"
- Smother.Net Ezine
