Some artists get a deal the old fashioned way, by cutting a demo and touring heavily, creating a buzz.

Others promote themselves online and go viral on YouTube, creating a buzz.

In Sara Jackson-Holman's case, there was no buzz; the deal came looking for her.

The classically trained pianist and singer got her label's attention by being a fan of another band.

Jackson-Holman liked Portland indie-folk band Blind Pilot enough that she left a comment on their Myspace profile saying so.

By chance, the president of Expunged Records, Blind Pilot's label, clicked on Jackson-Holman's Myspace profile and listened to her music. The next thing she knew she was label mates with one of her favorite bands.

"I had seen Blind Pilot at Empyrean last year and I really liked them. I left a typical fan post, something like, 'I love your music... when are you coming back to town,'" said the sometimes-Spokane-sometimes-Bend, Ore., musician. "The label asked if I had a demo and at the time I didn't actually have a demo, all I had was my stuff on Myspace."

With about a half an album's worth of material to her name, the then 20-year-old Jackson-Holman wrote the other half of her debut album, "When You Dream."

Jackson-Holman resides in Bend during the summer and attends school in Spokane at Whitworth University, where she is studying piano. She celebrates her new album with a Spokane CD release party on Tuesday at Empyrean Coffee House, 171 S. Washington St.

To record "When You Dream," Jackson-Holman hooked up with Portland producer and multi-instrumentalist Skyler Norwood, who plays in Point Juncture, Wa., among other bands, and produced Blind Pilot's latest album.

With Norwood, Jackson-Holman expanded her sound from sparse piano and vocals, adding upright bass and drums. Norwood plays drums on the album and in the touring band. Horse Feathers multi-instrumentalist Nate Crockett also played on the album.

"Skyler had a lot of ideas for beats and he likes overlapping vocals and harmonies," Jackson Holman said.

Going back and forth between Oregon and Spokane, Jackson-Holman said she is slowly getting acclimated between the drastically different scenes in Spokane and Portland.

"I'm a Bend artist, but I do get a lot of support in Spokane and from Whitworth, but my label's in Portland (and that's where the album was made). I'm kind of from three places at once," she said. "Because my audience is spread out I don't have the consolidated support base that I would have if I played one of them exclusively. I'm a part of three little families and I have a lot to learn about all three."

Sara Jackson-Holman CD Release Party with Union Street happens tonight at 8 p.m. at Empyrean Coffee House, 171 S. Washington St. Cost: $7

A version of this story appeared in The Spokesman-Review Newspaper.