Songwriter turned singer: Local country music artist releases debut album

A longtime country music songwriter is lending his voice as an artist with the release of his debut album this fall.

Adam Wheeler, a 22-year music industry veteran, has called Middle Tennessee home most of his life, growing up in Goodlettsville, buying his first home in Greebrier and now living in Hendersonville.

Before experimenting with a music career in college, Wheeler had his heart set on making a name as a professional baseball player.

“As with most people, that didn’t work out,” Wheeler chuckled.

But the shift to focus on songwriting hasn’t been a runner up career, as Wheeler has found success writing songs for some big names in country music including Scotty McCreery, Clay Walker, Megan Moroney, Tracy Lawrence, Tenille Arts, The Crabb Family, The Isaacs and more.

Like so many in the entertainment industry, the COVID-19 pandemic left an impact on Wheeler.

During the pandemic, he watched as two singer-songwriter friends recorded and released their own albums, igniting his drive to finally record and release his own.

“So, like most professional songwriters in Nashville, I’ve basically spent my whole career trying to write songs for other artists… and thankfully been here long enough to have some success at that,” he said.

“For the first time ever, I’ve just recorded my own album as an artist,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but kept it on the back burner as I raised a family.”

'Coffee cup Country'

When it came down to making the album, Wheeler had some direction already.

He had more than 2,000 songs he’d written over the last 20 years to choose from but knew early in the process which ones would make it into the album.

“You kind of stay close to the ones that stay close to you over all that time, you know, the ones that meant a little something extra to you,” he said.

“I came to the process of recording my first album with about 50 songs in mind that I’ve always been kind of attached to and just had to work very hard to narrow those down.”

That list was narrowed down to 11 songs, which he recorded earlier this year.

“I did have some help from friends and family on opinions from that final list that made the album, so that helped tremendously,” he said.

His friends and family gave more than just their opinions though, Wheeler said.

“The whole reason I was able to make this first album was through the generosity of friends and family that decided to contribute towards it through a Kickstarter campaign that I started at the end of last year, and that’s really the whole reason I’m getting to do this, so I’m very thankful for those that helped out,” he said.

First release

The first single released, “Can’t Not Love You”, was written with the help of two other songwriters, Jordan Reynolds and Robyn Collins.

Though Wheeler initially struggled choosing a song the first release.

“I really thought I was going to struggle with what should be the first release, because you wonder, ‘should it be my most commercial song? Should it be the song that means the most to me?’ There are all these different ways you could go about picking it,” he said.

Ultimately, Wheeler’s debut song choice was kismet.

“My friend, Matt Rovey (owner and operator of The Mix Farm recording and mixing studio in Nashville), co-produced the album with me, he’s a great producer and engineer, and it just happened to be one of the first songs that he mixed and sent to me and when I heard the mix I just thought, ‘man this thing is perfect already, like it sounds phenomenal’,” he said.

And public reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, Wheeler said.

“Thankfully it’s been received very well on the streaming services, especially on Spotify,” he said. “That’s been a pleasant surprise and a lot of fun.”

Stream “Can’t Not Love You” on Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, deezer, Amazon Music, YouTube and Pandora.

Digital time capsule

A few of the songs on the album share Wheelers’ own personal experiences with family and friends such as his stepfather’s battle with dementia and his father’s '56 Chevy.

“As far as the sound of the album, I’ve been thinking about the group of songs in the last few days… I’m tempted to call it ‘Coffee Cup Country’, and what I mean by that is people are going to find that these songs kind of go down warm and smooth and are good for the soul, like that first cup of coffee in the morning,” he said.

One song in particular contains a decades old soundbite Wheeler’s eager to share with listeners.

“Probably the most fun song is called “Country Junkie” and at the start of the song is a little snippet of a rap song that I made and sold when I was a teenager in high school,” he laughed, adding, “I still have the cassette.”

Others feature people that are close to him. His older son, Bradley, found a way into the album, featuring his electric guitar on the song, “Your Own Little Rodeo”.

“We made a little more time in the studio, the last thing we recorded was electric guitar part on that song and he had never played in the studio before so that was an awesome day,” he said.

Wheeler’s mom also makes an appearance in another one of the songs.

“Those are two huge highlights that I’ll never forget,” he said.

Jordan Reynolds, Robyn Collins, Kyle Coulahan, Matt and Ryan Fleener, Tony Haseldon, Eldon Huff, Ryan Larkins, Jeff Middleton, Will Nance, Buddy Owens, Jesse Raub Jr. and Scott Sean White contributed to the album as well.

The 11-song collection, “Soul of a Songwriter”, will be available in October on AWDAY Songs.

Katie Nixon can be reached at knixon@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Local country music songwriter releases single from debut album