Best Local Artist

Jim Devlin

Jim Devlin has a dilemma. As a solo performer, he has a steady schedule of gigs throughout the region (on average, 150 shows a year), playing songs with which audiences are familiar. But he's also a darn good songwriter, and therein lies the problem: How do you market your own material while holding on to paying gigs?

Last November, Devlin released his first CD, Lost, which showed the Uxbridge resident is ready to join the ranks of the region's singer/songwriters. But he's not interested in the coffeehouse circuit -- at least for now. He's put together the Jim Devlin Band, who appear each month at Jack's Saloon, where he previously performed with the Acoustic Tramps, a duo.

Devlin is selling Lost at his shows, through his Internet site (www.DevlinMusic.com), and via his quarterly newsletter, Devlin's Broken String (which celebrates couples who've met at his shows). The 13-song disc contains "Sunny Day," which earned him first place in the Berklee Annual Songwriters Competition in 1991 (other winner include Melissa Ferrick and Gillian Welch), along with "I'll See You in the Rain," "Without a Trace," and "One Last Train."

Once the line-up for the Jim Devlin Band is finalized, Devlin will begin work on his second CD of originals. The disc will include re-recorded versions of the most popular tracks from Lost, which was mainly made for fans. He's aiming for wider distribution this time around.

Devlin will spend the summer performing in and around Newport, Rhode Island, where he's become a regular fixture at the Landing and Christie's. But he'll return to his old Central Massachusetts haunts just to keep those love connections flowing.

-- Brian Goslow