Tim Connor

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. As he grew up he encountered the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Motown, and the blues, which made an indelible mark on his musical consciousness. “If you've listened to American music you've heard the blues whether you know it or not, but when I really heard it knowingly it was a revelation. The older guys like Lightnin' Hopkins, Arthur Crudup, Son House especially got me—just one person with a guitar and a story.”
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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. He quit the music business in the 1990s but in 2005, “stuck in Idaho with nothing to do,” he began writing and performing again, Now settled in Portland, he's still at it.
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“Songwriting is about telling stories,” he says, “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.”