MP3 John Adams - Hold On To The Dream
Singer/songwriter, and occasional humorist blending traditional folk, country and bluegrass roots.
13 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Gentle, COUNTRY: Country Folk
Details:
I started performing in an acoustic trio in college called The Other Brothers (you''ve heard of the Righteous Brothers, the Everly Brothers, the Smothers Brothers... Well, we are the Other Brothers...). We played the bar and college scene in and around Baltimore, Maryland during the late 80''s. We had a small and very disturbed following. After college, the band went their separate ways, so I did solo gigs for a few years. It was during that time that I took up songwriting.
I grew up listening to country, folk and bluegrass music and all of those early influences (Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Don Williams, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Jimmy Buffet, Gordon Lightfoot, Harry Chapin, Doc Watson, Flatt and Scruggs, Chet Atkins, and in more recent years John Prine and Mike Cross) coupled with a penchant for the amusing (Tom Lehrer, Allan Sherman, Ray Stevens, Jim Stafford) have molded me into the songwriter that I am today.
In the early 90''s I went to Nashville and recorded a "demo" album of my early songs called Halo Moon. The producer/talent scout convinced me that I needed to have that "Nashville Sound" to be noticed. I foolishly agreed and recorded an album full of country riffs, weeping steel guitars, driving drums and thumping bass-lines. It sounded OK - but, it wasn''t me. I play acoustic guitar - in a more traditional "folk" style. Live and learn.
I took several years off from performing when we started our family. But, I never quit writing. This album is a collection of songs that I have written over the last 10 years or so. Recorded the same way they were written, alone and at home, (and generally too late in the evening), and consistent with who I am. A little rough around the edges, perhaps, but honest and straight from the heart.