New Friend - Adam Sweet
Our next LCM featured artist is a blues, rock and roots singer-songwriter and superb guitarist from the South West of England. Adam Sweet will be releasing his brand new EP 'Take Your Time' tomorrow. We have an advanced copy and it is very good (review coming soon). His first single from the EP and our LCM #TrackOfTheDay is the wonderful bluesy 'New Friend'. Love the guitar riff on this one :)
We first met Adam when he was playing at the Folkstock 'Love Folk Live' event with Alan West and Steve Black.....and we have been very impressed every since.
Adam first picked up a guitar aged 7. He took to it quickly, but the primary school guitar classes didn’t exactly set his imagination on fire. A brief foray into classical guitar also failed to provide the spark he needed, but his interest in the guitar continued to gently smoulder into his early teens. It was at this point that Adam was taken to see his first ever gig when 'The Hamsters' came to play the Marine Theatre in his hometown of Lyme Regis, and suddenly things began hotting up. Inspired by this first live experience, and with the help of some of his Dad’s old records, he began unearthing the classic rock riffs and driving blues of the 60s and 70s that he had been missing out on. It didn’t take long to form his first band with a couple of likeminded classmates and by the age of 15 they were performing regularly on the local circuit. In the years that followed Adam could regularly be found recreating the music of his new-found guitar heroes around the South West of England. Since those early days Adam has steadily honed his craft and found his voice, and with well over 1,000 gigs under his belt is now successfully carving out a solo career.
Adam’s debut album ‘Small Town Thinking’ was released on independent East Devon label NEO Music at the turn on 2013/14. With his acoustic guitar providing the foundation Adam and producer Alan West built the album from their Devon studio, calling on Alan’s long time friend and Nashville based producer Thomm Jutz to add a little extra magic in the form of some of Music City’s finest session players. The album steadily gathered critical acclaim throughout 2014 in the music press and received national and international radio play. Adam was featured in Classic Rock’s Blues Magazine as ‘One to Watch’ for 2014, and the rave reviews of the album included a full 5 star rating and ‘Album of the Month’ in Guitar Technique Magazine’s July 2014 edition, praising the album for offering a “whole new perspective on the (blues) genre”.
Adam is currently writing the follow up to his debut album, working again with award winning stalwart singer/songwriter Steve Black – a collaboration that proved so successful on the first album. He will also be a releasing a new EP entitled ‘Take Your Time’ in January 2017, presenting some of his latest material in a stripped back acoustic format with a closer resemblance to his one-man shows. The EP, performed and produced solely by Adam, will also feature material co-written with principal songwriter and founder member of Level 42, Boon Gould.
Alongside a thriving solo career Adam fronts rock trio The Perfect Strangers, who for 6 years have been steadily working the West Country venues celebrating the classic rock and blues music that first got Adam properly hooked on the guitar. Stints with other bands have included a spell as lead guitarist for indie rockers Sweet Black Angels where during this time they supported the likes of Alabama 3 and performed as the headline band at Noel Gallagher’s after-show parties in Cardiff and at London’s O2. Adam can also be found performing with Alan West and Steve Black, adding an extra dimension and an edge to their laid back Country and Americana. Appearances with Alan and Steve have included the Country2Country festival at London’s O2 in 2013 and 2014, and as hosts of the annual Midwinterfest since January 2015. Adam accompanied Alan West in session on Bob Harris’ BBC Radio 2 show aired in March 2014, and his guitar work featured on Alan’s 2014 release ‘All Things for a Reason’. 2016 has seen the release of Steve Black’s latest album ‘Right Here and Now’ which features Adam’s guitars on every track.