Robert Millage Adam Hood
Adam Hood never thought he would play the Grand Ole Opry.
“I mean, it’s still your dream,” Hood, 47, says in an interview with PEOPLE. “That’s always what you want to do. For anybody that’s an artist or a writer or anything in that field, that’s definitely the pinnacle. I just didn’t know that was in our scope. application.”
In fact, the acclaimed singer/songwriter still can’t believe it.
“I think I’m still processing it,” he says of his Opry debut last month. “Honestly, I thought it would be a little more chaotic than it was. It was a pretty well-oiled machine! I mean, I was as nervous as you expected me to be, but after the sound check, I really relaxed.”
His composure continued throughout his two-song set in which Hood performed two original songs – “Way Too Long” from his 2014 album Welcome to the Big World and “Harder Stuff” on his latest record, Bad days are better.
Robert Millage Adam Hood
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“I tried to pick the songs that had the fewest swear words,” he laughs at the special night that saw him perform the same night as Opry members Darius Rucker, Bill Anderson, Jeannie Seely, Lauren Alaina and Dustin Lyncher. “I had to watch myself.”
Certainly, Hood had countless songs to choose from, as he was the author of a multitude of songs recorded by artists such as Miranda Lambert, Cody Jinks, Ashland Craft, Drake White, The Oak Ridge Boys and Little Big. Town.
“I saw Little Big Town do ‘Front Porch Thing’ on stage at the Opry,” Hood remarks of the song he co-wrote alongside Chris Stapleton for the band’s platinum album. Tornado.
But these days and at this point in his career, Hood says he likes to keep other songs to himself, some of which have now found their way onto his new album. bad days are betterwhich peaked in the top 10 on the Americana album chart.
Robert Millage Adam Hood
“You can have so many expectations of what you want the record to go into, but it always fascinates me to know what the record becomes as opposed to how it starts,” Hood said of his fifth studio album released in September. “But I just think we went further with this record.”
Collaborating again with producer extraordinaire Brent Cobb, Hood finally nailed the concept of the album to what he does best.
“I think in the past I’ve approached albums by making them sound more like a songwriter’s record, which is cool and fun, but it felt more like a stylistic record,” says Hood, who has recorded the entire roots record on Capricorn. Studios. “We tried to shoot for songs that had the lyrical content you would expect, but also stuff that had deep roots. I wanted it to be also musically representative of what I do rather than just lyrically representative. “
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Robert Millage Adam Hood
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And to do that, Hood found himself reflecting on his upbringing in Opelika, Alabama, where he started playing shows in his hometown at the age of 16, landing a weekly residency at a local restaurant playing songs by John Hiatt, Steve Warner, Hank Williams Jr and Vince Gill.
“I wanted to be able to shine a positive light on my upbringing and things like that,” says Hood, who was reportedly discovered by Lambert after her van broke down, leading to a publishing deal in Nashville. “I think ‘the South’ gets a bit of a bad rap sometimes. I know everyone is pointing the finger at someone else, but there’s a lot to celebrate in Alabama, and there’s a lot to celebrate. to be proud. It’s a product of my influence, so that’s what I really wanted to bring out without saying it. It’s really easy to piss people off these days.
He takes a deep breath.
“I’m not trying to tell you how you feel,” the father-of-three continues. “You are allowed to interpret this as you wish, but here is how I am to say it. That’s the beauty of being a songwriter.”
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