O say can he sing ... again this NHL season? Canes official anthem singer holds out hope

Before the puck drops and the fans erupt, before the siren blares and the rally towels start waving, an arena full of Carolina Hurricanes fans hush themselves to hear Adam Lee Decker belt out the National Anthem — a rare moment of hockey-related silence.

Since 2017, the 39-year-old singer and onetime “American Idol” contestant has kicked off somewhere between 50 and 100 Canes games — as much a fixture in the playoffs as Stormy the mascot pig.

He calls it a stirring ritual, an inspiring but complicated experience in the key of B-flat.

“It’s also terrifying,” he confesses. “The rumble of the place. The buzz and crackle of my ears. Unbelievable dopamine. I still get tingles in the triceps talking about it.”

He will humbly tell you he can’t bear to look at his face projected on the giant Jumbotron-style screen, focusing on the clock instead. Also, he tries not to trip coming down the stairs, which get narrower toward the bottom.

“I don’t want to become a meme,” he said.

But then the crew spreads a mat over the ice and hands him the big mic, and suddenly he’s channeling Francis Scott Key for 20,000 fans, sporting a Canes sweater and red Adidas.

“I hear my name,” he said, “and it’s almost like being in a chariot.”

Many bands and wedding shows

This father of two from upstate New York found his way on the ice of a Southern hockey team through a network of bands he fronted after college, including The Fault Line, Spaceship Days and the Adam Lee Decker Trio, which still plays weddings and corporate parties. Another of those bands, Love Tribe, had the previous Canes’ singer Amanda Kessell in its ranks — leading to a recommendation when she left the job.

But singing ‘80s covers varies wildly from singing the National Anthem, a notoriously challenging song that combines the lowest of the low notes with the highest of the highs, not to mention archaic lyrics such as “o’er the ramparts we watch’d,” all penned in 1814.

The anthem has been famously botched by Roseanne Barr and weirdly interpreted by a harmonica-playing Steven Tyler, and as Decker has learned, no rendition will please everyone. In any audience, the flag and the song traditionally sung for it mean wildly different things to different people.

“There’s a lot of emotion swirling around this anthem,” he said. “I hope one day that changes.”

Decker’s version is mostly straightforward but involves some octave jumps and note-bending toward the middle, so he’s no stranger to critics’ texts: “Yo, man, my ears are bleeding ...”

But it draws just as many “Awesome, dudes,” as fans’ YouTube posts can attest.

Hoping for another shot

Along with being a musician and part-time anthem expert, Decker also calls himself a fan. And he mourns the Canes’ 0-3 start against the Florida Panthers.

In his anthem singing career so far, he’s 0-4 in Eastern Conference Final games.

But if all goes well Wednesday, the Canes come back to Raleigh on Friday, and he’ll get one more chance to sing them through the perilous fight.