Seth Adam

'Songwriter of the Year' Nominee - 2016 New England Music Awards

Singer/songwriter
Seth Adam writes compelling, genuine songs with honest lyrics. The
alt-country, Americana rocker draws comparisons to Counting Crows, Tom
Petty, and Ryan Adams.

It
is unconventional to offer the world a biography written in the first
person. As the cliché goes, rules were meant to be broken...

I am a
40 year old singer/songwriter born and raised in Connecticut. I reside
in the New Haven area. I’ve been playing music, in one form or another,
since I was 5 years old. I got my start playing music in front of
audiences when I was in the elementary school chorus. Rock & roll
really got a hold of me just before my teen years, and I performed my
first “rock & roll band” show at one of those old moose/elk/“insert
animal type” halls when I was 14.

Here's the part where I tell you what I am currently doing with my career.

I
am doing something different in 2016. Since I spent all of 2015
performing and touring mostly by myself, I decided that in 2016 I will
write and record one song per month (or as close to it as possible), all
by myself. I am playing all the instruments, recording, producing,
releasing, and everything else-ing on my own, out of my little home
studio space (dubbed The Shoebox). The year long project is called East Rock. The
idea is to have total creative freedom (and control) throughout the
project. For example, If I'm working on one song, but become inspired
and write something completely different mid-month, I can shift gears
and go to that new thing. The tracks are being release exclusively
through Bandcamp.
The experience has been tremendous thus far, and I am a fan of how
doing everything myself is pushing me to become a better musician.

Here's the part where I give you some history, drop some names, and tell you about some influences.

I
describe my music as singer-songwriter/Americana/alt-country/folk/rock.
That’s a lot of sub genres, but probably the best way to characterize
it. My earliest influences were Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Kenny
Rogers. My dad used to spin their records for me when I was a kid.
Though I (and my parents) endured my hair-metal, progressive-rock, and
grunge phases, I find the music I write now to be the most heartfelt. My
biggest influence is Counting Crows (much more than a “90’s band”),
with Led Zeppelin coming in at a close second place. In recent years
I’ve come to nearly deify The Beatles and Son Volt.

I love making
music. My aim is to make it the thing that I can make a living with.
That takes a lot of work and sometimes it pays off. In 2007, my song
‘Get Out’ was licensed to Volkswagen for their Sights and Sounds
campaign. In 2008, entertainment columnist Roger Friedman (then at
FoxNews.com) called me “the hardest-working, best live act in indie
rock.” In 2010, I got a nice hometown nod from The New Haven Advocate’s
reader’s poll, winning the Best Rock Band category. In 2016, I was
nominated for Songwriter Of The Year for the New England Music Awards.
Through the years, I’ve been lucky enough to open for Grammy-winning
Steep Canyon Rangers, Grammy-winning Robert Cray, Tonic, Vertical
Horizon, The Alternate Routes, Will Hoge, Gary Louris (The Jayhawks),
Ken and Drew from Sister Hazel, and Mayer Hawthorne.

My last record, Steel Tempered Pride
was a lot of fun to make. I'm only including it in this bio because I
get to drop names (dry humor, folks). It features production credits by
David Immerglück (Counting Crows, Camper Van Beethoven) on two tracks -
‘Push And Pull’ and ‘Old Broken Ladder’ (Immerglück also played bass on
these tunes). The record also features bass performances by The
Alternate Routes’ guitarist, Eric Donnelly (‘New York City Bound’,
‘Troubled Times’) and drum performances by “Ramblin’” Rob Heath (Justin
Townes Earle, The Madison Square Gardeners) on ‘Old Broken Ladder’ and
‘Push And Pull’. Electric guitars and harmony vocals from Gerry Giaimo,
mandolin and harmony vocals from John Jackson, drums from Dennis DeMorro
and Steve Tobey round out the rest of the tracks on the record.

See you soon,

-Seth Adam, March 2016