FAIR AND ‘SQUARE’
by going ‘Back’
When Andy Adams chose the title for his latest album, “Back to Square One,” he meant it.
An Oklahoma City songwriter and frequent performer, and former host of a weekly songwriter night at the Blue Door, Adams isn’t exactly new to music; he has two prior records in his catalog. But still, “Back to Square One” is aptly titled and the result of a self-imposed crash course in some fundamentals of the profession: a practical commitment to the craft, of carrying out a cohesive vision in the studio and of what it really means to make a living from songs.
It’s the first of three albums in 34-year-old Adams’ five-year plan, as well as his first with a record distribution deal and a publicist and concrete plans to tour. The second of three is already in preproduction.
As Adams puts it, “The whole point with the record was to do everything the way they say you’re supposed to. I wasn’t shy about asking for help and being receptive. I asked people I’ve worked with before, ‘How did you do this?’ and ‘Can I pick your brain?’ ”
Beyond the logistics, “Back to Square One” is a clearheaded, heartfelt song cycle. A handful of the songs are Adams’ own, including the title track, and there are
glimpses of autobiography among them. “I Can Love You Better” is an ode to Adams’ wife, LeeAnn, “about being in a relationship you feel is too good to be true,” and “If You Can Still Dance With It” stems from a poem by Adams’ late uncle. The remaining tracks were written by or co-written with other Oklahoma songwriters — among them, Kyle Reid, Derek Paul and Levi Parham — a curious choice for what will essentially be viewed as a debut album.
“It’s a narrative, starting with a guy down on his luck who goes through a relationship, admits fault and starts back again,” Adams said. “I’ve known all of these songs for years, so I picked specific songs from my friends to help me tell that story.”
Adams credits his highly collaborative nature to his history as an athlete in his hometown of Tahlequah (a pursuit he said he abandoned upon discovering guitar).
“I do keep a team sport mindset in how I approach playing with people and keep competitiveness
out of music as much as I can,” Adams said.
Making connections
Adams raised the funds to finish and promote the record via a successful Kickstarter campaign backed by 119 people. He reached his goal after a marathon concert at J.J.’s Alley in July featuring over a dozen artists, including the Damn Quails, Jose Hernandez and Dylan Stewart.
Though the songs and the album funding may have diverse origins, the record’s vision is primarily Adams’, with a heavy assist from producer Kyle Reid, whom Adams first played music with at the Travis Linville-helmed Illinois River Jam in Tahlequah two years ago.
“It was nice to come together with Andy and just kind of put the egos aside and say, ‘I trust your taste, and you trust my taste, so let’s make this sound as good as we can make it sound,’ “Reid said. “He wanted a simpler sound than I thought we were going to go for, and that was refreshing.”
“Back to Square One” is simple, in some respects. Adams and Reid hammered out the preproduction details at Reid’s studio in his thenhome Kansas City. They then recorded the album with Joe Bello in Oklahoma City in 50 hours over four days.
The delivery of the songs is where Adams shines — storyteller-forward, with his fascinating,
warbly tenor clearly at the helm. Instrumentally, it’s relatively spare, with arrangements meant to push the album forward rather than spotlight the formidable technical talent of his session players (Reid, John Calvin Abney, Sarah Reid, Steve Boaz and James Purdy).
Carter Sampson lends her vocals to several tracks, as well, including the Kyle Reid-penned duet “Dancing Alone,” and for both the production and the accompanying music video, Adams wanted Sampson at the forefront, with both vocalists carrying the same melody: two halves of a relationship.
It’s a parallel to Adams’ recordmaking philosophy, that you can welcome others into your spotlight without shying away from it, and that, as he’s successfully done on “Back to Square One,” you can be both assertive and humble, a salesman and a poet. “With this one I feel I’ve made the connections necessary and learned things to where maybe with the next one, I actually know how to do it,” Adams said. And after square one, after the five-year plan, he remains pragmatic: “Let’s see if I can actually just be a songwriter.”