The Coffeehouse Kid

Stardom might be cool for Adam Carroll. But mainly he just wants to be your friend.

Comments (0) By Rob Patterson Thursday, Jun 21 2001

Carroll (right) swaps tales with fellow songsmith Slaid Cleaves.

Details

Adam Carroll plays with Damon Bramblett on Friday, June 22, at Anderson Fair, 2007 Grant. For more information, call 713-528-8576. He will also perform an in-store show at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 23, at Cactus Music & Video, 2930 South Shepherd. For more information on that event, call 713-526-9272.

More About

One way Carroll has found to get his music across is by hosting Adam Carroll's Down Home Song Swaps at various venues across the state. "It's cool that you can make friends with people you don't know," he says. "I think it's cool when you are doing one of the songwriter deals. You don't ever know how to react to other people, and whether you like what they do or not, or whether they like your songs. It's important to stay in it with everyone else and to pay attention to the other two guys…You really have to listen to the other guys even if they're not playing with you."

Given his frequent gigging and impressive self-released records, you might finger Carroll as a canny do-it-yourself kind of guy with a slick marketing plan. Truth be told, he's really just doin' what comes naturally. He admits that he's paying the rent with his career. As for the future, he says, "I'd like to keep playing. But mainly, I'd just like to be making new fans. I'm not sure where I'd like to take it. I've always thought that my music could be kind of conversational. If people come and it makes them laugh or makes them feel like they're hearing a good story, I guess that'd be good. But I don't know if I'll be big or anything. But I do enjoy being in the scene and being around cool people. So I hope I can just figure out a way to keep doing that."