Billboard Bits: Route Du Rock, Gavin DeGraw, Geoff Tate

J Records has signed Gavin DeGraw, a 25-year-old New York native, to a multi-album deal. The pianist/vocalist/guitarist, a student at Boston's Berklee College of Music, is about to hit the studio to record his debut set, due early next year. Last night (May 15), DeGraw played the first of a four-show residency at New York's Joe's Pub, previewing material intended for the album and reeling off covers of Marvin Gaye's "Let Get It On" and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." The residency continues June 13, July 16, and Aug. 15. Fans eager to sample DeGraw's engaging blend of pop, soul, and R&B can visit his official Web site , which hosts three songs from his self-released album "Live at Wilson's Grill and Bar."

Queensryche frontman Geoff Tate will release his self-titled solo debut June 25 via Sanctuary. The 11-track set was self-produced and recorded in Maltby, Wash., near the group's Seattle homebase. "What's nice about doing a side project with new people is that it is a whole new breed and a bunch of new ideas, musical backgrounds, emotional baggage, and whatever else it takes to create," Tate said in a statement. Tate will celebrate the release of the CD with a June 22 performance at the Experience Music Project Sky Church in Seattle. The evening will also include a set from guitarist Michael Wilton's side project, Soulbender, and a show-closing jam session with Tate, Wilton, and others, during which a couple of new Queensryche tunes are expected to be debuted. As previously reported , Queensryche signed with Sanctuary last August after tenures on EMI and Atlantic. The first release under the pact was the two-CD concert set "Live Evolution," which debuted in October at No. 143 on The Billboard 200.