Blaine Larsen Biography

Photo Courtesy of BNA Records

As one of the most successful country debut artists of 2005, Blaine Larsen had quite a year. His single, "How Do You Get That Lonely," was a Top 20 hit and his debut album, Off to Join the World was a hit with both fans and critics alike.

He made his first trip to New York City where he performed his hit song on ABC's Good Morning America before embarking on a tour schedule that found him opening shows for superstar and label mate, Kenny Chesney. In between all his professional success, Blaine also earned his pilot's license.

2006 offers little downtime for Blaine who landed the opening slot on The Redneck Revolution Tour with Gretchen Wilson and Van Zant. He's also putting the finishing touches on his sophomore album, which will be released in the summer. "I Don't Know What She Said" is the first single from that album.

But the story to his road to Nashville began 12 years ago, when Blaine was eight years old, to the moment when his life turned on the kindness of a stranger, one who would alter the course of his life.

Born in Tacoma, Wash., Blaine lived in California with his mom, dad and younger sister until his parents divorced when he was just five, and his mother moved with her children back home, settling in the small town of Buckley. Though the move brought him close to his mother's family, and especially his grandmother, who cared for Blaine and sister, Lindsey, while his mother went back to school to get her degree, his father's absence was painful, made worse by promises made and broken. "He would say he would call or was coming to see me, and he never did," remembers Blaine. "It was a terrible thing to do to a kid. It made me distrust people and not believe they would do what they said they would."

That began to change when a family friend, Woody (who Blaine now calls dad), started spending time with the young boy. A hard-working man with a side job as a contractor, Woody saw a fatherless child and with his mom's permission, took Blaine with him on weekend jobs. One of those jobs—converting his grandmother's garage into living quarters—eventually led to romance between Blaine's mother, Jenny, and Woody. "At first I was a little wary, but he proved himself to me. He was good to my mom and my sister and me. I really admired him and he taught me how to be a man. "Because of dad, I don't resent what came before him; I feel blessed. He wouldn't have been in our lives if that hadn't happened."

Along with teaching Blaine valuable life lessons, he introduced Blaine to what would become his life's calling: country music. "Dad couldn't sing or play, but he loved country music, and when we were going to jobs in his truck, that was what we listened to. He brought home some karaoke tapes and we would all just have fun with them. That's when I started singing. I was pretty bad at first; I was only 10 years old, but I didn't care, 'cause I just loved it. So I kept on singing and I got better."

In particular, Blaine fell in love with George Strait—the artist and his music. "He seemed like such a good guy, he had integrity, his songs were clean and I loved his voice. I bought all his records and I spent hours in my room after school, singing to his records, until I knew the words to almost every one of his songs. Musically, he was and is my biggest influence."

When he was 13, he decided it might be a good idea to learn to play guitar, rather than singing along with records. Taking a cue from his dad, Blaine went into business for himself. "I started building birdhouses, and I would load up a little red wagon with them and sell them around town. When I got enough money, I went to a pawn shop to buy a guitar."

His first attempts at playing weren't immediately successful, and after a couple months of trying, he decided he didn't have "the gift" and set it aside. But one day, listening to Alan Jackson's song "It Must Be Love," he picked up the guitar to give it another shot and didn't put it down again.

By his freshman year in high school, he was singing in assemblies and at school shows and his geometry teacher, David Bleam, took notice. "Mr. Bleam played guitar and he let me come into his classroom during club time and taught me chords and how to tune. We played together and I got good enough that I decided I wanted to learn lead guitar, so I saved the money I made working with Woody and bought a Telecaster." He wrote his first song with the teacher, a tune called "Keep It Country" and burned a home CD.

He continued playing around Buckley at sporting events, weddings, in Eagles clubs and sitting in on local jam sessions when he got a turn. People started noticing the young kid with the surprisingly mature voice, but as much as he loved singing and playing, doing it for a living didn't seem a realistic career goal. His plan was to join the Air Force and become a commercial pilot after getting out of the service. But when he heard of a studio in Nashville that would make a record—for a price—he and his parents flew to Music City. "I wouldn't exactly call it a professional recording experience," he says with a wry smile. "There wasn't any production to speak of. We were pretty naive about it. I just recorded the song Mr. Bleam and I wrote and a few covers. We ended up getting 1,000 copies of the CD I could sell at my shows and around town back home."

Though fame and fortune wasn't an immediate result of that first recording session, the meeting with producer Rory Lee Feek, set in motion by the letter from classmate Kelly Carnahan, set Blaine on the path to stardom.

When Blaine got back home, he sent Rory a copy of the CD he had made. Rory listened to the disc with fellow songwriter and producer Tim Johnson and they knew Blaine had potential. The 15-year-old flew back to Nashville for a legitimate recording session with Rory and Tim.

Rory and Tim started a label, Giantslayer Records, and began recording their first artist at Dog Den studio in Nashville. "Tim and I had written "In My High School" when I was a junior. It was a song I lived every day at White River High School. We felt it would have more impact if we could get it out while I was still in school."

The impact was almost immediately felt; when country station KMPS in Seattle began playing it, phone lines lit up with listeners struck by the universal, slice-of-life experience of high school's joys and hurts, written so poetically and delivered in a rich, confident baritone that belied the singer's age. Serviced to secondary stations and in KMPS's rotation, the independent label single charted in Billboard. In this unlikely chain of events, the song also struck a chord with a woman named Sandy Conklin, who works in distribution for BMG in Seattle. She believed so strongly in the singer's potential that she emailed RLG chairman Joe Galante, suggesting he check out Blaine's website.

"Rory got a call from Sandy," remembers Blaine, "And she told him what she had done, and that she had heard from Joe, and he wanted to set up a meeting with me." Blaine returned to Nashville and a few days later they went to the RLG office. The audition for Galante and A&R head, Renee Bell, turned out even better than Blaine could have dreamed. "RLG wanted to sign me, and we got to keep the record we had already made. That was really important to me, because we are really proud of the record. It is who I am, and the fact that BNA wants me for who I am, and isn't trying to make me something else, means so much to me."

Now 20 years old, Blaine is ready for the next step in his career.