Freshman Jill Tacey has taken the stagename Jill Trace and has taken her music to Europe where her single, containing her first two songs, "It All Adds Up To The Blues," and "Another Love Song" has been well received and is getting significant airtime according to European play charts.
"It's all been kind of a whirlwind," Tacey said recently. "I just did this interview for a small station in Wyoming today."
The single was recently released in the U.S. as a promotional item, the president of Comstock Records, Frank Fara said. The single has already been picked up by the Trans America Broadcasting Corporation for national program play.
Tacey may be the epitome of "overnight success." The 17-year-old from San Diego was singing in clubs over the summer when, at the encouragement of a friend, she turned a demo tape in to Comstock. Soon, the record company had her on a plane to its headquarters in Scottsdale and she was signed to a contract the same day.
"The division line (of music styles) is hardly there anymore," Fara said. "Many artists who consider themselves pop singers are being played on country stations. There is a big interest in this area (country) right now but still it is unusual to find someone as young as Jill interested in country music."
"They wanted to bring me in and make sure I was okay," Tacey said.
Her two songs are currently on play lists for radio stations in over 14 different European countries.
Country Special Radio 92.6 in Berlin faxed the company saying that, "listeners love 'Another Love Song,'" and that Tacey has, "an interesting voice that is lovely to listen to."
"Europe was a better market for me because I'm on an independent label," Tacey said. "It's really tough to catch on in America unless you are on a major label."
Comstock's role, Fara said, is to help artists make that next step to a major label.
Tacey said that most of the major country-only labels like Curb Records are based in Nashville, Tenn., but major labels such as RCA and Arista produce artists of all music types.
The young singer describes herself as sounding like a young Patsy Cline. Cline was a popular country star in the 1950s, but an airplane crash cut short her career.
Tacey said that she has been singing all types of music since the age of five, something that impressed Fara.
We looked over some of her background in plays and modeling," Fara said. "She has a lot of experience in the arts."
Despite all that experience, however, Tacey knew that country music was her calling.
"For some reason, country music is what my voice was made for," she said. "It came very natural to me."