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Adam Hood to stop at Southbound

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Long-time singer and songwriter Adam Hood is making a stop at Southbound in Springfield Thursday, Dec. 8. The doors open at 7 p.m. and Hood will take the stage along with Jason Eady shortly after. 

“I think this is a really special thing. It’s an intimate evening where Jason and I both sit down and play a set,” Hood said. “We’ve known each other a long, long time and we’ve had a lot of the same experiences at the same time so it’s a really unique show.”

The setlist will include songs that the artists have penned both separately and together with likely banter back and forth sprinkled in the mix. 

“The two of us on stage is a whole different experience,” he added. “If you came to see me do this by myself, I probably would sing song after song and thank everyone for coming… but with Jason on stage with me it’s likely you’ll get some stories behind the songs. If people haven’t heard either one of us, it’ll be a good opportunity to come see us because we don’t get to do this very often.”

Hood made his Grand Ole Opry debut in Nashville on Oct. 22, playing alongside singers Bill Anderson,  Lauren Alaina, Dustin Lynch, Darius Rucker and more. He described the experience as something he never dreamed of doing. 

“We just got a phone call to come play at the Opry one day and it’s one of those things where I can say after that, everything changed for the better,” he said. 

Growing up in Opelika, Alabama, Hood’s father was a forester and his mother sold real estate before operating a flower shop. He described making guitars out of cardboard until his parents bought him his first real guitar. 

“Music was always what I’ve wanted to do in some capacity, but I don’t know that I could have ever dreamed the path that we took… which is good,” he explained. “There’s a lot of different avenues you can take in the industry, and it’s been a series of good steps basically.”

Hood says he started playing hometown shows at age 16 and began his career in the music industry in a Columbus, Georgia venue which is where he first began learning how to write songs. He started traveling the country and met Pete Anderson in Little Rock, Arkansas and subsequently made a record with him in LA before playing shows in Texas, which is where the next step took place. 

In 2008, he was playing a show at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas when Miranda Lambert saw him perform. 

“Miranda and her mother were having a girl’s vacation and had some car trouble, so they decided to stay the night in New Branfels,” he told. “They stayed at a bed and breakfast next to the venue and just walked in and introduced herself. A week later, I was playing her birthday party.”

Lambert introduced Hood to one of her long-time producers and he signed his first publishing deal with Carnival Music, where he stayed for the next seven years. His most recent album, Bad Days Better, released in September and peaked in the top 10 on the Americana chart.

“It was kind of like a series of small to medium breaks that really got me to the place I am now,” he said. “Miranda is pretty much what got me into Nashville where I met Brent and Dave Cobb and started my writing career which has been about 15 years ago now,” he added. “The song ‘Hard Stuff’ on my latest record has Miranda singing the backing vocals. And Brent produced it. It was about an eight-year process from the time Miranda got me to Carnival to actually recording a song, so it was a hard, long road but all around a full circle experience. It was pretty special.”

“Harder Stuff” was one of the album’s singles and was written by Brent Cobb and Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke Davis Nix and Adam Hood. Saving Country Music called the song the “perfect idea for a country star from a maturing songwriter with a family whose priorities have shifted. Then Miranda Lambert comes in to help take it to the next level.” The song is currently spinning on SiriusXM Outlaw Country and peaked at #12 on the Americana radio chart and #8 on Texas Radio. 

Bad Days Better is Hood’s fifth studio album and was recorded at Capricorn Studios with Charlie Starr, Brit and Richard Turner, all of Blackberry Smoke. According to Hood, his friendship with the band was instant. 

“Brent Cobb and I grew up about two hours from each other. We knew a lot of the same places and people and hit it off pretty fast, and we’ve written a lot of songs. He’s always been supportive of my music and when it came time to make a record, I’d bounce ideas off of him and his opinions were really good… good enough to where I eventually said why don’t you just produce the record?”

In addition to writing songs sung by Miranda Lambert and Brent Cobb, Hood also has songwriting credits on songs by Little Big Town, Cody Jinks, Brent Cobb, Ashland Craft, Muscadine Bloodline, Drake White, Travis Tritt, The Oak Ridge Boys and Whiskey Myers. He penned “Front Porch Thing” with Chris Stapleton for Little Big Town’s platinum album, Tornado.

“We wrote that song back before Stapleton was Chris Stapleton so that was a pretty special experience,” he laughed. “It was really the first time I’d ever had a song on a platinum album, and I’ve got that album on the wall… I call it my trophy. That was my first trophy.” 

Hood’s wife and three children live in Alabama, and he makes it a priority to live at home, with an apartment in Nashville. Though it’s tough balancing a family and road life, Hood still plays between 100-150 shows a year and has spent the last three years as direct support for Leon Russell. 

“I don’t know of anybody that balances those things particularly well… I try to just keep lines of communication open, and I can’t play every weekend, but I can play a lot of them,” he said. “We like being in Alabama, closer to family and the more we’re able to see family, the happier our home seems to be.”

Hood has left his mark onstage and in the writing room, carving out a southern sound that mixes soul, country, and American roots music into the same package.

“We’re excited for this Springfield show. Jason and I have a new song called “Broke Not Broken” and that’s the stuff we love to play live,” he said in anticipation of Thursday’s show. “Sometimes we play it live and I’ll get I'll get a message on social media the next day saying someone really needed that. You never go into a song with the idea of writing a song to chance someone’s life, just to normalize the thoughts in your own head. So, the fact that in the process of doing that you can make somebody’s day or change their perspective, those are the ones you just love to play because they have the highest reward. You realize you’re just a vessel and there’s a higher power controlling things. That’s a good feeling.”

According to Hood, the experience of an intimate concert setting is the perfect opportunity to explore an artist’s music. Those who enjoy southern style music are sure to enjoy the show. Tickets are available online or at the door. 

"It's southern music," he says, "That's what it represents: the soulful side of southern music, the country side of southern music, the genuineness of southern culture, and the way I grew up. One of the t-shirts I sell at every show simply says ‘Southern songs’ and that's a good summary of what I do. It's what I've always done."