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Jim grew up in Florida in the middle of an orange grove. Florida was much more rural then, and there was no town near the Allchins’ home. As Jim says, “It was just poor people, farm land and phosphate mines.” Living in a house that his father built with his own hands, the house didn’t have enough space for doors inside, so the family’s rooms were divided with sheetrock. Jim went to work in the fields at an early age, occasionally missing school to do whatever needed to be done. And with all that, Jim says, “We may have had essentially nothing, but I had a fantastic childhood.”

It was Jimi Hendrix’s music that inspired Jim to pick up a guitar, and he followed the path set by bands like Lynyrd Skynrd and the Allman Brothers – white southern boys who took a left turn toward the blues and rock. Jim worked his way through school by touring with his band. “We got big enough to book ourselves,” Jim remembers, “but I was starving as a musician, so I went back to school for computer science.”

Jim fell in love with computer science, and his newfound path led to degrees at Stanford and Georgia Tech and, in 1990, to Microsoft, where he rose through the ranks to become co-President of the Platforms & Services Division and a recognized leader in the world of computer science and software. Bill Gates said of Jim, “He’s a brilliant technologist, visionary and a strong leader.”

In 2003, Jim faced a health issue, and the experience was life-changing. “It forced me to re-examine my life.” He continues, “When you look out over the abyss, you say, ‘Hmmm…better make sure I do all the things I want to do.’ Had that not happened, I probably would have worked until I was 90.”

Jim recovered fully, and in the very beginning of 2007, he left Microsoft for good. “Once I retired, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” he says. But a trip to Montenegro and Croatia inspired him. He recalls, “I was blown away by the pop Montenegrin music. I started studying it and then I began to write – and once I started, it was like someone turned on a faucet.”

Jim originally planned to record in L.A. with session men, but things worked out differently. “I kept messing around, recording and writing songs in Seattle and it started to come together. People started listening to it – and it became clear that I could do it,” he remembers. Self-produced, with all the songs written or co-written by Allchin, Enigma began to take on a life of its own.

From the first notes of the album opener, “Enigma Machine,” it’s clear that Jim has his own style – he may have roots in the greats, but he is beholden to no one. Modern, spacious and driving, the song sets the tone for an album striking in its diversity. “I’m About To Fall” has a laconic blues groove that perfectly suits a tale of a man who can’t help but be pulled into a new love. “Rockin’ Chair” is a hard-jamming song that is an assertion of remembering sensual pleasures while getting older, while “She’s In Love With Me” provides an ethereally dance-y and new-age sounding plea for love and companionship.

While Jim isn’t busy being a father to his two young boys (“I started late on that too,” he says with a laugh), he likes to get in the studio to record. “At the beginning of 2008,” he says, “my goal was to write one song I was proud of that year. I did more than that.” Musical greats including Buddy Guy and even Eric Clapton have heard Jim’s music or played with him and given him encouragement. And given Jim’s faculty for growth and development, his next album should be something. “Now that I’ve gotten the hang of making records, I want to get another one out,” he says.

Throughout his life, Jim Allchin has proved himself to be a remarkable man, unshakable in his devotion to what he loves. And Enigma, in all of its diversity, is true to Jim’s vision of his music - a startling and compelling debut by an artist whose commitment to excellence remains unyielding.