2/25/09: #11 on GAC Top Twenty!! Thanks!!!

Hey everyone, how’s it going?

Thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every one of you who voted for “What It Takes” this past week! We debuted on the GAC Top Twenty countdown at #11 - YES! I truly appreciate all the support. Sorry for taking a little bit longer to get this journal out to y’all, but I’ve been so focused on making tons and tons of radio calls recently. An important part of my day is taking time out to show appreciation to everyone who makes it possible for me to have a career in this business, and that is definitely something I believe very strongly in. Radio has been awesome to me down here and in Canada, and I enjoy spending the time -- however long it takes to call them all up and say "hey" and "thank you!"

Something new I've started doing for all you fans is called “ag TV." Basically, we shoot video footage of events taken from the road. It’s mostly me acting goofy, but it's also a look into what we do out on the road, on the bus, in planes and everything in between. It’s an addition to what I already do by writing journals, just more of a visual experience for y’all.

This past week, I did shows with Gary Allan and Blake Shelton, both of which were awesome. The crowds were amazing - 5,000 people at each event! It was a great opportunity for the band and I to get in front of more people and make more fans, which is always the goal. The other night, our flight ended up being so delayed out of L.A. that by the time we got into Austin at 2 am it made no sense for us to get a hotel before our 6 am flight out to Nashville. So, we ended up just camping out in the Austin airport that night. My manager Lawrence has always told me that I should get used to sleeping standing up and sleeping in airports! I guess this was our first introduction to that. I was cool with it though, because there was a vending maching and a chair that I could stretch out in and relax. Mark, Robin and Graham were laid out and snoring on the floor in front of Shelley and I, and there was a few times that we just burst out laughing. I guess we were a little delirious at the time, so everything seemed a lot funnier, haha.

Anyhow, we’re all safely back in Nashville and I’m just chilling out right now, watching this new show on TV called “High School Reunion.” It’s pretty good, actually. Well, y’all have a great evening and I'll be in touch with you next week. God Bless!

ag)

2/20/09: Conversations with Gwen Foster From KMLE

Hey everyone,
I'm back on the bus, taking back a couple of Ice Mountain waters and watching the world pass by. I always say whenever I'm sitting within the walls of this bus with the curtains down, that I could be anywhere. It really puts me in a happy state of mind and I think that's how I manage to enjoy being on the bus so much for so many hours, I love it. I would love to bring all you fans with me out here on the road, but unfortunately the bus isn't big enough. It is barely big enough for 11 dudes, haha.

I told you a few weeks ago about something cool that I was going to be doing with my good friend Gwen Foster from KMLE radio in Phoenix, where she calls me on a weekly basis and we recap the events of my week. Afterwards, she posts our conversation on www.kmle108.com. We talk about everything from my songwriting to what I do in my down time, just about anything that will let people know what goes on in my life on a weekly basis. Anyhow, I did that today with Gwen and we talked for probably 15 minutes or so and I really enjoyed that, as I do every time we talk.

Now we're heading down the road to Springfield, Mo. for a show there. If any of you are from that area, we would love to have you out at the show. The show will be at the Shrine Mosque and the doors are at 7pm. Again would love to see you out. Well, I'm signing out for the night, but you guys take care and stay warm. I will talk to you very soon. God Bless!
ag)

2/13/09: Soles4Souls Week Wrap-Up!

This past week has definitely been productive and memorable. Monday morning I went with Lawrence, my manager, over to BMI where I signed an exclusive songwriter agreement deal with BMI. Following that, I met up with Anthony Smith and he and I were inspired to write a really cool song. Although it is unfinished, it has potential to be a great song. 3 o'clock rolled around all too fast that day and Shelley, Mark and myself caught a flight to Detroit where we would find the next few days to be very busy and keep us on our feet. That night in Detroit, we went to dinner with Tim Roberts from WYCD and his wife Lori. We had an enjoyable three-hour visit with them. Tim had the great idea of ordering Peking Duck and it was freakin' awesome! I don't think I've ever had anything like it before. They brought it out on this tray, it was like a whole duck and they cut it up in front of us and then they rolled it up in this special bread and yeah! That's pretty much all I can say about it, It was good.

Not that you guys care, but I have seriously gotten into egg and rice noodles to the point where I can't get enough. If my mom was here... she would be saying to me, "Adam, your going to turn into a gigantic noodle someday if you don't stop eating so much pasta" - ha-ha. Growing up, I was the type of kid that was fussy and would not eat much. When it came to eating pasta, I would lather it up in butter, salt and pepper and be in heaven. I wish I had known about rice noodles and egg noodles then, because they have instantly become my favorite.

Early the next morning, we headed out to do a segment on Fox 2 News in Detroit. Every time I've done T.V. appearances, they've been under a time crunch and everything is so precise and timed down to the last minute. So, Mark and I sound checked within our 2 minutes that we were given during commercial breaks and then played "What It Takes" live on air. Sometimes it gets a little scary singing a song with such range in the morning, but surprisingly enough under those circumstances both of us did well. Following the television appearance, we made several radio stops between Detroit, Flint and Lansing all of which went very well. WYCD was our first stop in Detroit and that was for the Dr. Don, Rachel & Grunwald show… They were great people and it was great fun. Very entertaining!

In Flint, we visited PD April Rose and MD Keith Allen at WFBE "The Bee" and were overtaken with their generosity in providing Chinese food for lunch. If there ever comes a point where my parents wanna trade me, I know that I will have a home with Steph from the station. I think she wanted to adopt me while I was there. Hahaha… Just kidding mom and dad, I love you. Then we made our way down the road to Lansing from Flint, and made a visit with Chris Tyler from WITL, at the Wittle White House. That's really what they call it. I've been there before and Chris has always made us feel welcome. He put us on air and we played a couple songs as well. We headed back to Detroit after that, and wolfed down some fantastic Sushi along with the best edamame you've ever tasted! I was really in the mood to use some fine vocabulary in this journal, but unfortunately I only made it through to the 6th grade and then hit the road running after that. Ha! Just kidding. Anyhow, the next day rolled around and we made a stop in at The Frank Beckmann show. This show has been around for like 75 years and I would have to say that it was one of the coolest interviewers I've ever had. The building that it took place in was historic in itself and I just enjoyed looking at the architecture inside the building. I look forward to seeing Frank again sometime soon.

From there, we rushed to the airport not knowing if we would make our flight because we were starting to push it time wise, but we did and all was good. We caught our flight to Kansas City where we met up with the band.

What a great day it was yesterday in Kansas City. We made our 1st appearance with our friends from The WOLF as part of my "What It Takes 2009" Soles 4 Souls club tour. It is certainly something you need to take part in to know the extent of how caring the charity is. It's amazing that a pair of shoes can make such a significant difference in someone's life. Just imagine you being the one living out on the street no food, same clothes, and a beat up pair of shoes that barely keep your bare feet from touching the ground. Or maybe you'd been through some rough times, and just needed a fresh start. Could you imagine what a brand new pair of shoes with thick soles on them could do to someone like that? Pretty much life changing I'd say, and that's their motto…or OUR motto now…"Changing the World, One pair of shoes at a time." There was a guy there yesterday that said that that was the first time he could remember a pair of shoes actually fitting him properly. I know personally if I had to walk around in shoes that didn't fit me, I'd be miserable and in pain. Please don't think guys for one minute that I'm accusing any of you for not being grateful and appreciative, but this is our chance as a community and as a country to make a noticeable difference. Last night's show in Kansas City at the "Infused Bar" revolved completely around Soles 4 Souls and trying to get people involved in helping out. As we did last night, and as we'll do at future shows coming up, we're going to be handing out numbered flip flops to all single people who come out to shows, and maybe with that numbered flip flop those single people can meet their "sole-mate" as well. It may sound cheesy, but strange things have happened and it's fun.

Shelley went up on stage last night at the gig and informed the audience a little more about Soles 4 Souls and also mentioned to everyone to put their name in a drawing to win a trip to Las Vegas, and then she followed that by bringing us up on stage with some DJ's from The WOLF. The winner from this show was Lynn Fredlund. We played a 90-minute set and just had a blast. Unfortunately after the show, we didn't have a ton of time because we had 800 miles ahead of us to get to our next location, so we ended up loading up the bus and then pretty much immediately heading out for Detroit, MI. Our bus driver Dave amazed us all by driving through the night and getting us here safely with absolutely no complaining about it what so ever. We've got a show here in Detroit tonight at "Coyote Joes" and again this is another show based around Soles 4 Souls. Hope to see some of you here tonight at the show. Take care of yourselves and God Bless!
ag)

2/8/09: Helping Out Soles4Souls In The Nice Weather

Hey everyone,

We arrived home early this morning. I did some laundry and packed for Detroit. Mark, Shelley, and myself leave for there tomorrow.

I had two great shows this weekend… One was at the Blind Horse Saloon in Greensville, SC. and the other one was at Coyote Joes in Charlotte, NC. The band and I just added 7 new songs to our set. Some are new songs that I’ve written and others are songs from legendary acts like Merle Haggard. I hope that y’all can make it out to a show soon and check it out.

Around 2 p.m., we all met up at our office on Music Row to sort and organize boxes upon boxes of shoes that will be given to people across the country as part of our involvement with Soles 4 Souls. It's really a great cause! It is so nice to see so many people on board wanting to make a difference and put a smile on people’s faces or change a life with a simple heartfelt gift through a pair of shoes.

Tomorrow, before we leave at 3 p.m. I get to write with my co-writing buddy Anthony Smith. Wish us luck!

Are you all loving this weather? Nashville got to be in the 70’s today, which is night and day from what it was last week. Not sure what the weather is like where you are, but hopefully it’s getting nicer. Anyhow, I’m going to call it a night now. I’ve got some left over Mellow Mushroom pizza so I think I am going to heat that up for dinner…. it’s really some awesome pizza. Have a great night everyone and I’ll be in touch with y’all soon. God Bless!

ag)

2/5/09: On The Way To Greenville!

Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well. Man, it has been bone-chilling cold the past 4 days here in Nashville. It's gotten down to around 15 degrees every night, OUCH… You'd think me being from the north I'd be used to the cold, but no- my blood must've thinned out.

As you can see, I am spreading my journals out a bit more these days. That way, I have more to write about and hopefully make things a little more interesting.

This week I haven't had a ton of stuff going on. Unfortunately, we've all been sick. My band, manager, and myself have all been battling whatever it is that's floating around in the air. Fortunately, most of us have conquered it and are feeling much better.

I've had a fairly productive week so far. The band and I have been cutting tracks and let me tell you, I am pumped! I can't wait for everyone to hear it. The sound of the new stuff that I'm writing is really exciting. When you write songs, you try to imagine what they are going to evolve into and what they will sound like within the walls of a studio. To hear your song be brought to life by all the talented musicians playing their hearts out in the recording booths is very special. Pretty much any song that I write or co-write becomes a child to me. Of course I've written some not so good ones along the way, but that's expected. For the most part, I couldn't be more proud.

I'm not sure if y'all are up on cell phones or not, but I just got the new G1 phone and I am LOVING IT. I haven't quite figured out this feature, but evidently the G1 has a feature that you can set up that will tell you how far your phone falls. Why you would deliberately want to drop your phone is beyond me, but it will actually tell you how far it fell. It also has this bar code feature where you can scan bar codes on products and compare prices that way. Is that not cool or what? I'm just naming a few features. Anyhow, I hope the weather looks up for us all and gets a little warmer. It's this type of weather that really makes you appreciate hot chocolate. The band and I head out on the bus at midnight tonight for Greenville, SC. We've got a show there tomorrow evening.

Hope to see some of you there! Have a great evening everyone, and like I said… stay warm and I will talk to y'all soon! God Bless!
ag)

2/1/09: Enjoy The Superbowl!!!

Y'all enjoy last night's Super Bowl? I felt the anticipation and excitement in the air all day yesterday. I have friends and fans in both Phoenix and Pittsburgh, so I wasn't cheering for any particular team. I just say, "may the best team win." I was talking to a guy at the airport in Milwaukee yesterday who said he was going to the Super Bowl. I bet that would be pretty awesome to be in the audience with the crowd cheering and getting into the game. I don't know about all of you, but personally one of my favorite parts of the Super Bowl is the half-time show and the funny commercials. I'm sure there was some craziness in the City of Nashville tonight as well as every other city in the country, so I hope y'all had a great time and chowed down on some great food and enjoyed the game! I'll be talking to you soon. God Bless!

ag)