Singing On Key

Songwriter Dan Adams joins his peers for annual Key West festival

Dan Adams (’96) loves to tell a story.

The Greenville, Ga., native has been telling plenty of them through more than 150 songs and five country music albums that he has written since he left Statesboro after graduating from Georgia Southern.

“I love writing songs because they paint a picture and tell a story,” said the songwriter who was influenced by a variety of musical styles. “I grew up on the Allman Brothers and the Eagles, Alabama, Charlie Daniels and Kenny Rogers,” Adams revealed.

As a marketing major, Adams played in local bands until he got a call from Capitol Records, landing an internship before his senior year on campus. After that, he was hooked on the music industry and The Music City.

“A couple of months after graduation, I moved to Nashville to work in the record label side of the business, which included Internet marketing,” he said. Within the next couple of years however, the self described “road-dog musician” switched gears, going back to performing and he began playing more than 200 shows a year for a five-year stretch.

Over the years, Adams’ career has easily moved back and forth from performing to songwriting, and now the father of three has scaled back his touring schedule to play only 50 shows a year. “With my family commitments, I’m now focusing more on songwriting and the business side, and less on performing,” he said.

He is co-writing with many industry veterans and hosting regular songwriters’ showcases that highlight the talents of his peers. Musicians such as Russell Hitchcock from the group Air Supply and country artists including Joe Bachman and the group Lonestar have recently recorded Adams’ songs.

This is shaping up to be a busy year for Adams, with the debut of his sixth album on iTunes and amazon.com, and participating in his fourth annual journey to the Key West Songwriters Festival where he joined more than 100 songwriters descending upon the island for a series of acoustic performances.

“Nashville’s songwriting community moves to Key West for five days, and you get to hear a lot of hit songs from the guys that wrote them,” said Adams.