Adam Karch- Some Awkward Country Ahead
In February of 2023, Canadian blues performer Adam Karch was fresh off a win at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, where he advanced to the finals, returning home with the award for Best Guitarist in the Soloduo category.
Spring of 2024 sees Adam return to the stage with the release of his new album, Some Awkward Country Ahead, delivering an acoustic journey flavoured with samplings of Americana, Blues, folk and Roots genres. A collaborative effort, this album features pieces crafted by fellow songwriters, with several songs penned by Adam himself.
Some Awkward Country Ahead delivers listeners the pared down album Adam Karch has been dreaming of for years now – an entirely solo vocal and guitar recording, from start to finish, including titles Hurt Me So Bad and New York City’s a Lie (a track about craving the simple life vs. the frenzy of the city), Adam takes listeners “from hopelessness to hopefulness, despair to redemption”.
On two tailored tracks, Adam explores the offerings of a twelvestring guitar, allowing for surprising harmonies not possible on a conventional six-string.
Four years have passed since the release of the aptly named Everything Can Change (2020), that was sadly buried under the weight of world events related to the pandemic. In that time, Adam has parted ways with Les Disques Bros (the label responsible for five of his albums), releasing Some Awkward Country Ahead as an independent artist.
AK: “So, this record “Some Awkward Country Ahead” has been brewing for some time since, I’d say a little after the lockdown during the pandemic. I was doing a lot of live streams during that time and I was thinking to myself how strange it was to be having to perform like this, that wasn’t a bad thing but it got me thinking how awkward it was and so was everything else in the worlds as the pandemic rolled on through like a nonstop cloudy day that lasted for weeks…months.
Then I remembered a friend of mine sent me a batch of songs to look over years ago and the title of the folder was SACA (Some Awkward Country Ahead) and it hit me. This is exactly how I felt during the pandemic. Strange, awkward, lonely, hopeless, and despairing, but as the months passed on, I started to appreciate more and more of what little I had. If I got a livestream gig offer, I was ecstatic, even though it didn’t feel natural to perform this way.”
Adam navigated “these uncomfortable moments”, and ultimately began appreciating his lot in life, and hope began to return. It felt like things were going to be okay. Inspiration began to surface, and Adam took advantage of that flow.
“This is the irony of the record.
Weird times make great songs, and I started writing and rearranging songs from other artists that I was friends with. It was like a puzzle putting this album together.”
A year to write, a year to record is the loose gestation period of Some Awkward Country Ahead, with more intense months that wrapped it up. The pared-down sound is in tandem with a process that saw Adam at a crossroads, with 27 years of experience in the music industry, but the budget many artists were faced with due to the pandemic. A bare budget was tough to digest, but in December of 2023 the real work of recording began, when Adam’s baby steps finally helped him find his footing.
Given the intense nature of being responsible for all aspects of recording, Adam’s approach was to take it slow, ponder, and truly craft an ensemble of work that represented the true mood of this outpouring of self, soul and skill.
“I never had so much time to record a record in my life. At first, I thought I couldn’t do it all alone, but once I got set up, a feeling of independence and self-control came over me, and I ended up taking two months to record this record at home.”