Country Newcomer Adam Doleac on His Romantic Debut Album: ‘I Fall in Love with Every Sunset’

The pandemic hit all artists hard, but perhaps none so badly as developing acts who were just starting to have some career momentum. Such was the case with soulful country singer Adam Doleac: In late 2019, he signed with Sony’s Arista Nashville imprint and scored a gold single with his sweet, catchy breakthrough song “Famous,” which hit No. 1 on SiriusXM’s The Highway’s Hot Country Countdown.

Then, in March 2020, the world stopped. On the positive side, Doleac wrote 150 songs during the pandemic, and he and his now fiancé spent a lot of time with his family in Mississippi, where he grew up. Yet any traction he’d gotten with “Famous” nearly trickled to a halt (though he managed to take another song, the lushly romantic “Another,” to the top of The Highway’s chart during the pandemic). The release of his debut album also got pushed back nearly two years, but Barstool Whiskey Wonderland finally arrives today (Sept. 30).

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The 18-track collection shows off Doleac’s smooth, sultry vocals. “[My voice] gets [called] warm a lot, soothing a lot. It’s like a big hug sometimes when people listen. Everybody needs one. I’m a big hugger myself,” he says. The album also displays his strong storytelling craft­­–he co-wrote all but one of the tracks on the set.

Now, back on the road and ready to pick up where he left off, Doleac talked to Billboard about the debt he owes Kenny Chesney, what he learned from Florida Georgia Line and why he almost called it quits.

You came to town to be an artist, but like so many before you, first landed a publishing deal and then got songs you wrote cut by Kane Brown and Darius Rucker. How did that come about? 

I was playing a showcase for labels and the labels passed on me, but [then Sony Music Publishing Nashville head] Troy Tomlinson walked up to me and said, “Why don’t you come in tomorrow and play me a couple songs? I liked what I heard.” I went in the next day and played a song called “She was Right.” He put his phone in front of me and said, “Play that one more time,” and he recorded it. He sends it straight to Kenny Chesney. While I’m sitting there, Kenny responds and goes, “Oh my God, what is this song? I’m cutting it.”

He recorded it, but it didn’t make the record. Kenny doesn’t know this, but he got me my first publishing deal, because what more could you ask for in your first meeting than to have Kenny be like, “What is this song?” But it was never the goal for me to come write songs [for others]. I was always writing for me the whole time.

You played baseball at University of Southern Mississippi, even reaching the College World Series. What did you learn about being a college athlete that carries over to a music career?

Somebody’s always gonna be better than you if you show up lazy that day. Also, I think hearing the word “no” and not being devastated by it. You hear the word no [in Nashville] about 20 times a day. You get your dreams crushed 20 times a day. And so you have to be able to start the next day with the same inspiration and motivation to try to get something to happen.

You didn’t start writing and singing until you were in college. When did you realize that you could do that?

My teammates on the baseball team booked my first show for me. They’re the ones that would hear me singing. They always said, “You should sing in front of people.” I always said, “No, absolutely not. I’m terrified to sing in front of anybody.” I just saw one of my buddies from college in Manhattan Beach and he was like, “Remember we used to sit around the campfire and sing, but you were too scared to sing at all?” I had to be pushed into singing. They booked three shows in Hattiesburg (Miss.) and they sold out mainly because people knew me from baseball. But I just kind of fell in love with performing pretty immediately. Like once you sing a song and hear the reaction, it was just kind of awesome.

The only song on your album you didn’t write is “Fake Love,” which was written by some pretty heavy hitters:  Maren Morris, Ryan Hurd, HARDY and Jordan Schmidt. How did that come to you?

Roxy King, who works at Universal Music Publishing Nashville, sent that song to my manager, Eric Garcia. He rarely sends me songs, but he sent that over pretty much immediately. I just remember thinking whether you’re in the best relationship or the worst relationship, the lyric calls you out so hard. You’re either gonna go, “Oh, s–t, I need to get out of this relationship I’m in,” or “Yeah, me and her, we’re the real deal.”

How did it end up as a duet with Danielle Bradbery?

Maren was singing the demo. I’m such a fan of hers and it made me want a female feature on it immediately. Danielle actually reached out to try to cut the song herself two weeks after I put it on hold. When I heard that I was like, “I love Danielle’s voice. Why don’t we see if she wants to sing on it?”

The album is deeply romantic. What is your favorite romantic song that’s not yours?

One of my favorites is “The Heart of Life” by John Mayer. I am a very romantic person. I do see the world through child eyes as much as I can. I fall in love with every palm tree I see, every sunset. I try to really, really take all that in. And I hope that never goes away.

One of the lighter-hearted, catchiest songs on the album is “Close That Tab,” where you tell a woman that the man she likes is as appealing as a “watered-down vodka soda” and she should leave him for you. How did you come up with that? 

[My co-writers] and I were in Florida and said, “Let’s invent a new insult. We want to call this guy something that nobody’s ever called anybody before.” And we came up with “he’s a watered-down vodka soda.” We were like, “Would any of us want to be called that?” And we were like, “Hell, no.”

Two weeks later, I was playing it at The Listening Room in Nashville for the first time. The third chorus came around to the “watered-down vodka soda” line and all 300 people in that place screamed it without being prompted. I was like, “Okay, we might be on to something here.”

Where does radio fit in for you? 

Well, unfortunately, it hasn’t right now, which is a bummer. It’s tough. I did sign at a weird time. That’s the reason you sign a record deal, so they can take you to radio. I think radio is still very, very important, we just haven’t been able to crack the top 40 yet. I’m out-streaming half the chart on a regular basis. We’re selling more tickets than a lot of people on the chart. You’ve got to get the first one, and we haven’t quite got it yet.

But you’ve been building an audience through streaming and live shows. 

Streaming is very powerful. I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be a new artist. I have Sirius XM to thank a good bit for that, too. I want my label focused on radio nonstop. But with our crew and talent agency, we have a plan in place: We want to be selling 5,000 tickets [per show] by this time next year. And if radio happens, that’s sprinkles on top of the cake. Radio is always going to be a great thing, no matter when it happens.

You’re headlining your own shows now. What is something you’ve learned from an artist you opened for? 

We did a show with Florida Georgia Line a few years back, and they had me come out and sing a song with them and they were like, “Come join the huddle before the show.” It was really cool. I picked up from them to always try to include whoever is on the show with you and hang and not be the cool guy who’s secluded the whole time.

You wrote an Instagram note to your fans after CMA Fest this summer thanking them for coming see you play and how it had been bad break after bad break for you lately. Has there been a moment when you’ve thought about giving up?

Yeah, there’s several of those moments. We were coming out of COVID and we got the [support slot] on the Zac Brown Band tour–20,000 people a night. It was the best news we could have gotten. We ended up playing [only] six shows because [Zac] got COVID and had to cancel the whole second leg. In the middle of that, we had $100,000 worth of gear stolen in our trailer. Then we tried to go out on the road with Jessie James Decker and she ended up canceling the second part of the tour because she had gotten COVID. It was just thing after thing after thing.

There were definitely moments where I was like, “Is this where I’m supposed to be?” I believe that God will speak to you through limitation sometimes. You’ve got to pay attention to that kind of stuff. But then [at CMA Fest], 6,000 people showed up.  I was told it was the biggest crowd they had all week on that particular stage. I wanted to say thank you because it really motivated me to get back to it and not give up.

What does success look like to you?

It changes. I remember being independent and just thinking, “If I could just get a record deal.” You get a record deal and then it’s “If I could just get a gold record,” and then I got a gold record.  I know myself pretty well, I think they’ll always be more that I’m trying to get to. My goal from the get-go has been to sell out stadiums. That’s what I want to do. That’s what I feel I’m built for.

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