James Otto photo by Kristin Barlowe, courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

The easy approach in a soundbite culture is to succinctly label the persona and the project, but which to choose: The kid from the Pacific Northwest who bleeds classic rock? The backwoods Alabama teen whose voice channels Southern Rock and high volume country? The romantic balladeer whose passion for soul draws on Otis and Conway? The successful and contemplative songwriter?

Truth is, James Otto is all of these, and probably a few more. Fortunately, the circumstances leading to his Warner Bros./Raybaw Records debut album -- an earlier ill-fated major label deal, touring with superstars like Big & Rich and Shania Twain, a seven-year immersion in the craft of songwriting -- have enabled him to incorporate and distinctly express all the hues of his musical talent. And thus, Sunset Man.

"As long as I can possibly remember I have been obsessed with music," James says. "Listening to it on the radio, getting into my mom's record collection -- my tastes have changed, but music has been there my whole life."

Born into a military family and raised in Washington State, James didn't just listen to music, he made it. A guitar found scrapped in a neighbor's trash was an early tool, with more formal training on violin and in a boys choir commencing in grade school. "I got a record player with a mic on it when I was three or four, and I've been singing ever since," he says. "But the choir is really the only formal training I've had."

Vocals were never his focus, however. "Hearing Van Halen's 1984, and seeing Prince -- I wanted to be a guitar player." Led Zeppelin, Bob Seger, Bryan Adams, just about anything heard on the radio became a new challenge. "I was just soaking it up," he adds. "Country was something my grandparents listened to -- old timey, gospel sounding stuff."

Junior high was a turning point. "I moved to Alabama with my mom, a place called Sand Mountain," he explains. "It was really backwoods, country, and all the kids were listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Jr., Alabama and Charlie Daniels. That stuff hit me really hard. It took me out of a pop-rock world and moved me into absorbing everything from Willie Nelson to John Anderson."

Music remained his focus, even through a post high school stint in the military. "Really, I signed up to pay off debts so I could move to Nashville," Otto says. "I've been moving around most of my life, just living to make music."

Nashville offered up a songwriting contract and, eventually, a deal with Mercury Records. "I had three different A&R chiefs during the making of my first album," Otto recalls. "The original vision became diluted. I started out with all the creative control in the world and by the end of the process it was, 'Go cut these songs and do them this way.'"

The marketing process was almost as frustrating as recording. "I was signed with six other male acts, all good folks, and put out on a radio tour where it was basically like, ‘Pick one. Which one will you play?'"

Adding insult to injury, one of the songs from that first album went on to become a number one hit for another artist. "I was really turned off and angry about the situation for a long time," he admits. "I wrote some angry music."