Blaine Larsen

Although few country performers emerge from Washington, Blaine Larsen joined their ranks when his 2004 single “How Do You Get That Lonely” placed him, at eighteen, as the youngest traditional country artist to reach the Billboard charts. Born in Tacoma in 1986, Larsen passed his first years in California. After his parents separated when he turned five, he relocated with his mother and sister to Buckley, Washington. There his stepfather acquainted him with country music, and by age ten the boy was harmonizing with karaoke tapes of the genre. He took up guitar at thirteen; once in high school he performed regularly at campus functions. Prior to his junior year the family journeyed to Nashville, where the teenager cut a demo disc containing mostly covers plus the original “Keep It Country,” co-written with a teacher. He sold copies at local gigs, and one reached Rory Lee Feek and Tim Johnson, who had recently launched Giantslayer Records in Nashville. Struck by Larsen’s baritone, the pair brought the fifteen-year-old back for a studio session that yielded the 2004 album In My High School. Its title track earned intermittent yet targeted radio exposure, notably around Seattle, prompting BNA Records to sign him and issue a reworked edition titled Off to Join the World in early 2005. BNA next released Rockin’ You Tonight in 2006.