Adrian Nye
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Adrian Nye

Band Folk Acoustic

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Still working on that hot first release.

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Bio

Adrian began his musical exploration in Boston in the 1980’s, as guitarist for the all-original new-wave band Lizards In a Circle. They made two EPs and played in clubs around Boston. During that time Adrian also auditioned for and played acoustic shows (instrumentals) at the Nameless Coffeehouse in Harvard Square, Cambridge with his friend, guitarist Mark Haldaway, now one of the world’s best Kalimba players. Adrian says, “Those were probably the most fun years of my life so far, writing music and living in a group house in Cambridge. Five bedrooms, two bands practicing in the basement. No one ever did the dishes. It was chaos. I don’t know why it took me so long to get back to it.”

In the subsequent decade Adrian concentrated on a successful career in technical writing and engineering. He wrote books that sold over a million copies, and was part of a four-man team that built a strange-looking aircraft from scratch and broke a rotorcraft world record. Meanwhile he was still practicing the guitar and building his chops and his skills at instrumental composition.

Adrian quit working at least temporarily at the age of 37 to spend more time with his newfound passion, whitewater kayaking. He says, “I decided I’ll work when I’m old. I wanted to try these things while I was still sort of young.” Living out of his van, kayaking took him to about 30 US states every spring and summer to race, train, and run rivers. He’s also paddled overseas in such remote and beautiful places as Chile and New Zealand. He spent winters in Austin, Texas, where the weather is mild enough to paddle comfortably even in January. At his peak he ranked in the top 40 slalom kayakers in the U.S., and competed on the U.S. team in kayak polo at the world championships in 2002 and 2004.

All those years spent by the river are evident in the beautiful natural imagery in many of his songs.

Realizing his days in competition were numbered after age 40, Adrian turned his attention back to music. He started songwriting again in early 2004. He says, “To my surprise, I found I could actually sing and play at the same time. I thought it might take years to figure it out. I have never done much singing of any kind.” He studied the craft of songwriting intensively and quickly wrote some songs that received some compliments and positive feedback.

In Austin’s great music scene, Adrian quickly found kindred spirits, especially the South Austin Artists Circle, a varied group including a few other songwriters, who supported each other and provided Adrian’s first audience. “I was so nervous in front of them, I could hardly play let alone sing. But gradually I became more confident in my songs, and that gave me the confidence to play not just for them, but in public.” In May 2006 the Circle held a joint performance and show at the Hideout Theater for an audience of about 75, and Adrian played 20 minutes of his songs, had the audience laughing, and had a great time!

In 2007 Adrian was invited to open for noted folk performer Sarah Hickman at the Walden Coffeehouse in San Antonio, and began playing regular shows at Cafe Caffeine in Austin.
He also made his first demo recordings and is now preparing to make his first CD.

The adventure is just beginning.