A Song and A Friend Podcast

Season 2 Episode 8: A Very Special Song “Splitting Hairs” Greg James & The Peaches

May 26th, 2023  |  7 mins 50 secs

Our second short-form episode. I was fresh out of college, year 2000, 23 years old, I met Greg in the hall on my first day of teaching at Kankakee Valley Schools. I was holding a viola case, which caused him to strike up a conversation. Greg was, I remember him telling me, a huge music fan and music maker. While showing me to my classroom, he said “We should jam sometime,” as musicians do. Later that year, we did, and I was blown away! He played in circles around me and his writing was both informed by our rural, farm country region while transcending it with great imaginative license. I learned so much from Greg about how to be a Dad/Teacher/Citizen/Hoosier/Songwriter/Rock Star- all rolled into one. Before anyone was impressed with how I pulled that off back in the day, Greg modeled it for me. For over 20 years now we have had a fruitful musical friendship and I can’t recommend his catalog enough. Check it out! The song in the bed of the 2nd half is Greg’s song “Say It Again.”

https://gregjamesandthepeaches.bandcamp.com/album/greg-james-and-the-peaches

Support Tom at https://linktr.ee/tomadamsonmusic

Season 2 Episode 7 Indiana Skies with Erik Styles

May 5th, 2023  |  35 mins 15 secs

Great songs often emerge when a songwriter has a set of confines to work within and push against. Erik Styles describes a time when he was in a small cabin in rural, southern Indiana, surrounded by friends, a few guitars, no cell phone service, and steady rain. This retreat produced “Indiana Skies,” a song which has followed him to the other side of the world. Listeners can find the song at erikstyles.bandcamp.com/track/indiana-skies
Erik’s song “Sand Creek” is played under the introduction. Other projects mentioned in the episode: The Odyssey Favor, Rick Dodd and the Dick Rodds, and The Cornersmiths can be found on Spotify. “Glor” is found on The New Old Distillery songwriters collective page newolddistillery.bandcamp.com/track/glor

Support Tom at linktr.ee/tomadamsonmusic

Episode 15: Season 2 Episode 6 A Very Special Song: G.L. Perry

April 21st, 2023  |  10 mins 7 secs

Our first short-form, special episode. Before Walmarts and Meijers and Best Buys, discount retail outlets were humbler in nature. In the 2nd half of the previous century, G.L. Perry was a “Michiana” chain of variety stores with a catchy radio jingle that played on South Bend and Mishawaka, Indiana, stations. The song “G.L. Perry” is the new single from Sanchez Agency. It is a “both/and.” It is both a recollection of a bygone era that delights fans of a certain age and it is also a catchy groove that ignites the imaginations of younger listeners who did not grow up in Northern Indiana in the 1980s. (This episode also features an early mix of “Looking For A Guy Named Jeff” by Sanchez Agency in the 2nd half.) Find the whole EP online now.

sanchezagency.bandcamp.com
Support Tom at linktr.ee/tomadamsonmusic

Season 2 Episode 5 For Christ’s Sake with Barton Price

April 7th, 2023  |  37 mins 43 secs

Our bodies’ DNA has a double-helix shape. The weaving of two strands, plus the elements they share in common create life. Barton Price helped me write and arrange the song “For Christ Sake.” We talk about the way our life’s trajectories over the last 20 years have moved in a helix-like complimentary way - making it a joy to have Barton as a member of my musical “faculty.” Barton, along with John Drury, who played drums on the session, and Brannon Hancock, who played bass on the session and produced it - all three of these guys- teach at the university level. The perfect team for a heady song that weaves sacred and secular themes in a helix as well. Barton Price teaches popular/rock music history at Purdue Fort Wayne as well as having a Ph.D. in American Religious history, making him the perfect conversation partner for the episode on this song.
Support Tom at linktr.ee/tomadamsonmusic
Stream or Download Today’s song: tomadamson.bandcamp.com/track/for-christs-sake

Season 2 Episode 4 The Restivus with B. Jacob Sandock

March 17th, 2023  |  22 mins 17 secs

Is there a perfect time in one’s life to start a band? A perfect age? 17? 25? 30? 40? The Sanchez Agency’s motto “Never Too Late!” has many applications to life in general, but it also touches on the biography of frontman/ songwriter B. Jacob Sandock, who wrote songs for 20 years before connecting with veterans of the Indiana indie rock scene forming a formidable band unlike any other.

www.sanchezagency.bandcamp.com
Support Tom at linktr.ee/tomadamsonmusic

Season 2 Episode 3: Old Chimpanzees with Shawn Stonesifer

March 3rd, 2023  |  44 mins 30 secs

Let’s say you hadn’t had a real conversation with an old friend for 15 years. Then you and your friend agree on a time to talk, pick a topic: a song you crafted together; and press record. What you’ll hear today matches that very scenario. Shawn Stonesifer is an entrepreneur living with his wife and children in North Carolina. He has a YouTube channel dedicated to his Accordion covers called “Great Honk.”

Support Tom at linktr.ee/tomadamsonmusic

Season 2 Episode 2: Tennessee with Chris Crigger

February 17th, 2023  |  22 mins 17 secs

The process of crafting lyrics will often help the songwriter discover details that might otherwise go unnoticed. Those details often become the most poignant to the listener - such as a child’s blanket forgotten in the backseat of a car finding its way into a song of resolve after a breakup. Chris Crigger has long been a guitarist for live bands in Virginia and Tennessee. Recently, he began writing his own material.

Click here for an exclusive video of him and Tom playing songs in his Tennessee home.

Support Tom at linktr.ee/tomadamsonmusic

Season 2 Episode 1: Jesus and the Horse Thief with Friend: Jake Miller

February 3rd, 2023  |  23 mins 29 secs

Being in a band with 12 guys involves a lot of listening - not only to the musical parts, but to the ideas and relationships with bandmates. Jake “Cazz” Miller and his friends in Kansas Bible Company passionately pursued a vision of organic collaboration and shared leadership. The results were often ecstatic such as in tracks like “Jesus & the Horse Thief.” Hear more great tracks from KBC at kbco.bandcamp.com.

Support Tom at linktr.ee/tomadamsonmusic

Episode 9: Streets of Chicago Part 2 with Dan Hawthorne

May 6th, 2022  |  13 mins 46 secs

A Song and A Friend - is hosted by Indiana songwriter Tom Adamson. In each episode, you’ll hear a song by Tom paired with thoughtful conversation from a friend who is connected in some way to the song.

Episode 8: What Are You Afraid to Say with Shannon Hager

April 22nd, 2022  |  14 mins 14 secs

A Song and A Friend - is hosted by Indiana songwriter Tom Adamson. In each episode, you’ll hear a song by Tom paired with thoughtful conversation from a friend who is connected in some way to the song.

Episode 7: Whistling Past the Graveyard with Dennis Michaelis

April 8th, 2022  |  22 mins 9 secs

A Song and A Friend - is hosted by Indiana songwriter Tom Adamson. In each episode, you’ll hear a song by Tom paired with thoughtful conversation from a friend who is connected in some way to the song.

Episode 6: Charlie… with Erik Fisher

March 25th, 2022  |  17 mins 34 secs

A Song and A Friend - is hosted by Indiana songwriter Tom Adamson. In each episode, you’ll hear a song by Tom paired with thoughtful conversation from a friend who is connected in some way to the song.

Episode 5: Scarecrow with John Drury

March 11th, 2022  |  20 mins 12 secs

A Song and A Friend - is hosted by Indiana songwriter Tom Adamson. In each episode, you’ll hear a song by Tom paired with thoughtful conversation from a friend who is connected in some way to the song.

Episode 4: Molten Wax with Heather Lowmiler

February 25th, 2022  |  13 mins 47 secs

A Song and A Friend - is hosted by Indiana songwriter Tom Adamson. In each episode, you’ll hear a song by Tom paired with thoughtful conversation from a friend who is connected in some way to the song.

Episode 3: Streets of Chicago with Todd Bushong

February 11th, 2022  |  19 mins 26 secs

A Song and A Friend - is hosted by Indiana songwriter Tom Adamson. In each episode, you’ll hear a song by Tom paired with thoughtful conversation from a friend who is connected in some way to the song.

Episode 2: Take Off Your iPod with Jason Monroe 

January 28th, 2022  |  14 mins 38 secs

A Song and A Friend - is hosted by Indiana songwriter Tom Adamson. In each episode, you’ll hear a song by Tom paired with thoughtful conversation from a friend who is connected in some way to the song.