Tim Connor's songs, with their incisive, emotionally telling, witty observations on life and relationships, have evoked comparisons to Lyle Lovett, Randy Newman, John Prine, and Elvis Costello. His fingerpicked guitar playing, rooted in blues, ragtime, and country styles, blends in African influences absorbed during childhood years in Zambia, along with rock, soul, jazz, and Latin and Caribbean music. Born in North Carolina and raised “all over the place,” he has played folk, blues, rock and country from Connecticut to California. He started writing songs when he was 12, and had his first paying gig at 15. At 19 he was Guitar Champion of the Old Time Fiddlers Convention in Union Grove, North Carolina. He played guitar and bass with Detroit-area rock bands 66 Spy and Luna Park. "Blues Between the Lines" blends all his influences, from the Afro-Caribbean filigree of "Dominique" to the Piedmont blues of "Serpent Blue" and "Delia" to the Latin-bluegrass "Thieves" and his fingerpicked 12-string arrangement of Stephen Foster's "Hard Times." There is also straight-ahead downhome blues ("Norfolk Southern Blues"), acoustic funk ("Ishmael"), and the jazzy blues of the title song. Tim's songs tell stories. "I write in character," he says. “Songwriting is about telling stories, and I've always thought of myself primarily as a songwriter. I'm not a traditional musician really, but American songwriting is a tradition in its own right that has a symbiotic relationship with traditional folk music, going all the way back to Stephen Foster. I just want to be part of that tradition and add a few threads to the tapestry.”