Brandon Lee Adams
The Life of a Musician on PBS Appalachia
When Brandon Adams called me several years ago and told me that he was getting ready to produce a new television show for PBS Appalachia, I’ll have to admit that I was hesitant to jump in with a story about it because many times these kinds of great intentions don’t end up panning out. I had known Brandon for at least 15 years and I was not questioning his passion, ambition, or talent. But, even with those personal attributes, things don’t always go your way. However, as it turns out, the show did happen and it is now in its third season and thriving. The show has millions of viewers tuning into each episode—either through television programming or streaming services—and has featured highly notable musicians such as John Jorgenson, John McEuen, Tim O’Brien, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, Vince Gill, Larry Cordle, Sammy Shelor, Jenee Flenor, Alecia Nugent, Jerry Salley, Kristy Cox and many more.
Before we dive into how Brandon’s show was developed and what one might expect to see if they tune in, I’ll first tell you a little bit more about the show’s host, Brandon Lee Adams.
Raised by his grandfather, Brandon was born in Teays Valley, West Virginia. When he was eight years old his grandfather handed him a 1968 Martin D-28 guitar, showed him how to play the G, C, and D chords, and said, “Practice those because you are playing with me in church on Sunday.” Brandon said, “My grandfather’s dream was to have a family band and one of his greatest joys in life was playing music in church.” Brandon practiced his chords and walked into church that Sunday ready to play. He said, “I was nervous about it, but I had practiced hard to learn those chords. I didn’t always change them at exactly the right time, but I got through it.”
From that day forward Brandon played in church with his grandfather, and other musicians, every Sunday. He said, “We always had a mix of instruments and musicians. One week we’d have a sax player along with someone on the organ and someone else on the harmonica. Another week we might have a mandolin, fiddle, and claw-hammer banjo. I would just learn on the fly. It was a great place to experiment because church people are very forgiving.” Since Brandon’s grandfather only played basic chords, Brandon said, “Whenever I’d see anyone else play a chord that I didn’t recognize, I’d bug them until they showed it to me.”
For the first couple of years, Brandon only played rhythm guitar. Then, when he was about ten years old, he heard Tony Rice’s Church Street Blues recording. He said, “Tony rocked my world! I learned every word to every song on that recording.” Moving from playing basic chords to learning Tony Rice material can be a big leap for someone who is trying to learn to play the guitar on their own. Luckily, Brandon had an uncle, Rick Hogston, who was a guitar and banjo player that was familiar with Tony’s material. Brandon’s uncle lived in Webbville, Kentucky, the town where Brandon attended church. Brandon said, “I spent about all of my spare time with my uncle in Webbville after about the age of ten. He was the only guy that I’d ever seen who could play a close facsimile to the stuff Tony was playing on his recordings. I would sit and watch his band for hours. He would sit down with me and go through each solo note-for-note. He has a great sense of timing and is a very tasteful player. He was very patient and helped me out a lot. I still call him to ask his opinion.”
From the age of eight, guitar consumed Brandon’s life. He said, “I played the guitar all of the time. I played in church, I played at home, I’d play for anyone who would listen. I only got four or five hours of sleep a night because I wanted to play music all of the time.” By the time he was in high school, Brandon also wanted to form a band so that he would have other musicians to play with but he couldn’t find any other kids his age that were interested in bluegrass. He said, “All of the other kids that I knew wanted to play rock. I knew that if I wanted to play live, I was going to have to play rock. So I started a classic rock band with my cousin. We’d play songs like ‘Layla,’ ‘Crazy Train,’ ‘Freebird,’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ at school dances, private parties, and coffee houses. Rock was OK, but when I was at home I was on the acoustic guitar practicing stuff by Tony Rice, Dan Crary, and Pat Flynn.” Although Brandon did get to jam with his uncle’s band “around the house,” he was never given the opportunity to perform with them on stage. He said, “They kept telling me ‘Once you get good enough you can come up on stage with us.’ I think that was their way of making me practice hard.”
After graduating from high school, Brandon hung drywall for a year before deciding to join the Army. He served in the Army for four years (1998 through 2002) and was part of the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Kosovo before being sent to Korea for seventeen months. When asked if he continued to play the guitar while he was in the Army, Brandon said, “I took along a Martin backpacker and played music by myself to keep my fingers loose and practice. I played whenever I could. When I was in Bosnia and Kosovo we’d have these long night patrols. When I got back from a patrol I would play my guitar to relax and get centered.” By the time Brandon returned home after serving in the Army, his grandfather had retired and moved to Webbville, Kentucky. Brandon settled there with his grandfather and entered college, eventually earning his associate’s degree in history.
After spending time in the Army and attending college on the GI Bill, Brandon’s life took a turn towards music. While visiting a music store in Grayson, Kentucky, Brandon was checking out the guitars in the shop and just so happened to be picking “Jerusalem Ridge” when Don Rigsby walked in the store. Don must have been impressed with what he heard because he told Brandon that he was putting a new band together and asked for Brandon’s telephone number. A few months later Don called Brandon for an audition. Brandon said, “At that audition, I had the most fun that I’d had in my entire life. The musicians who were there knew every song that I knew. Every song I rattled off, they could play and their timing was immaculate. I rediscovered the joy of music on that day. It was a great experience.”
Brandon started playing with Don Rigsby’s band in 2003 and stayed with that band until the end of 2006.
In February of 2007, Brandon started recording a solo project titled Hardest Kind of Memories. In recording this CD, Brandon was not only interested in laying down a backlog of songs that he had written, but he was also interested in having some of his musical heroes be involved in the recording of those songs. He said, “During the time I was on the road with Don I had shared the stage with guys like Scott Vestal and Randy Kohrs. I really liked what they did because it was a little to the left of three-chord bluegrass. When I would write a new song I’d think ‘Wouldn’t it be awesome to have Scott Vestal play on this,’ or ‘I’d love to hear Randy’s Weissenborn on this!’ So, I wanted the public to hear what I had to offer and I wanted to record with the musicians that I idolized and respected.” Brandon was able to get Scott Vestal, Don Rigsby, Randy Kohrs, Luke Bulla, and Jessie Cobb to record on that album with him.
Brandon’s first album was released for the first time in 2008, but he later re-released it in about 2017 after he recorded an additional cut with Tony Rice and had the album re-mixed by Wyatt Rice and re-mastered by Ronnie Rice. When asked how the opportunity to record with Tony Rice came about, Brandon said that back in the days when MySpace was popular he had posted some of his original music on the social platform and Tony had heard it. Tony must have really liked what he heard in Bradon’s music because he sent Brandon a message via MySpace.
Brandon first assumed that the message was not from Tony Rice, but he responded anyway. That led to an online conversation that convinced Brandon that it was indeed Tony Rice. Brandon asked Tony if he would be willing to record a song with him. Tony put Brandon in touch with his management, Keith Case, and the session was scheduled.
Over the years, Tony Rice was known to have taken several young guitar players under his wing, such as Chris Eldridge and Lucas White. Brandon is to be included in that select group. Regarding the recording session, Brandon said, “Tony picked the studio, learned the tune on the spot, and we recorded it live.” The song is titled “I Long For Summer.” When asked if he knew why Tony had reached out to him, he said that Tony told him, “I dug your songwriting. You sound like yourself.”
After the recording session, Brandon and Tony stayed in touch and would periodically talk on the phone or text. When asked what kinds of things they would talk about, Brandon said, “Everything…originality in music, his philosophy on rhythm playing, an approach to life, politics…random things.” Brandon said that Tony also talked with him about “how to find that ‘want to.’”
As a fan of Tony’s Gordon Lightfoot covers, Brandon was also interested in how Tony approached covering another artist’s songs and Tony’s advice was to be original and learn how to play and sing the song your own way.
In 2017 Brandon recorded his second album, titled Time That I Was Leavin’. This album featured Sammy Shelor on banjo, Forrest O’Connor (Mark’s son) on mandolin, Meade Richter on fiddle, Zack McLamb and Robert Sledge on bass, Aaron Balance on Dobro, and also included Carl Jackson singing harmony vocals.
Between the release of the first album in 2007 and the second in 2017, Brandon spent much of that ten-year period performing on his own as a solo act or filling in with other bands. One band he enjoyed working with was Johnny Staats’ band. He said, “I admire Johnny’s talent and his rhythm playing on the mandolin. He is very professional, as are all the members of his band.” Brandon and Johnny also toured Ireland as a duo in 2018. In 2019, just before the pandemic, Brandon also performed a few shows with Kristy Cox and had hoped that might continue, but the pandemic shut that down.
The pandemic also curtailed Brandon’s solo career. After his second project was released in 2017—and three of the tunes hit the bluegrass charts—Brandon spent a lot of time using that project to book shows for himself. He said that he had about 50 dates as a solo act booked for 2020, but the pandemic shut them all down.
Recently Brandon has started working on a new project. As of June 2025, he had four cuts recorded and is working in the studio with musicians such as John Jorgenson, Vince Gill, Tim O’Brien, John McEuen, and Jenee Flenor—all people who have appeared as guests on his television show.
The first single, “I’ll Follow Summer,” includes Vince Gill on second guitar, John Jorgenson on mandolin, John McEuen on banjo, Glen Worf on bass, and Tim O’Brien on fiddle. He recorded at Tim Carter’s studio in Nashville.
Originally, Brandon did not expect John McEuen to come on board, but while he was in Nashville he called McEuen to ask him out to dinner. McEuen asked Brandon what he was doing in Nashville. When Brandon explained the project, McEuen said, “I’d like to be a part of that.”
The Life of A Musician
The idea for producing a television show came to Brandon during the COVID shutdown in 2020. He had been a guest on a PBS program called Songs At The Center and after that experience said to himself, “I think that I could do this.” While producing a television show and getting it to air on a TV network might sound like a long shot, Brandon has a great deal of determination, and he is not afraid of working hard. He said, “When someone tells you ‘no,’ that just means that you are approaching from the wrong direction, so you come at it from another way.”
Brandon put in the hours to develop a business plan and he pitched his idea to the powers that be at Blueridge PBS. They must have been impressed because they gave him the green light to give the show a try.
On the PBS website (Appalachia, Virginia—pbsavirginia.org) it states, “Life of a Musician is a ‘real’ acoustic and engaging series that takes viewers behind the scenes of the music industry. From up-and-coming indie artists to seasoned professionals, the show takes you on a journey that offers a glimpse into the world of music through the eyes of those who make it.”
Brandon said that the idea for the 26-minute-long episodes was to bring a guest in, play some music together, and talk about whatever comes up, with nothing being pre-scripted. For seasons one and two, he got full support from his hometown of Danville, Virginia and he recorded each episode in a different historic location in Danville. The Santa Cruz Guitar Company was also a major sponsor. Other music companies that helped sponsor the first season included Ear Trumpet Labs and L.R. Baggs. For season three, Brandon took the show on the road and recorded at various locations, including at the Merlefest Festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Season one included thirteen episodes, season two had eleven, and season three has ten episodes.
Several of the artists who Brandon has featured on the show, such as Vince Gill, Jerry Salley, John McEuen, and Tim O’Brien (with Jan Fabricius) have two interview-style episodes where they talk with Brandon and perform a few songs with him. Others, such as Jenee Flenor, Lauren Mascitti, and Kristy Cox have one interview-style episode and then a separate “house concert” episode where the artist performs a show.
The Life of a Musician is now aired nationwide and streams on the PBS website. The show won an Emmy award for Best Interview/Discussion at the Capital Emmy Awards in 2024. Brandon said that if you’d like to watch the show on TV, simply contact your local PBS station and ask about show times. He said that many of the PBS affiliates will pair his show with Austin City Limits. If you would like to stream the show, all episodes are available at https://www.pbs.org/show/life-musician/.
If you would like to see some of your favorite musicians, and some very talented musicians and singers that you may not have heard of yet, perform and talk about their career in music in an intimate setting with the talented Brandon Lee Adams, this show is for you. Tune in and check out an episode or two and look forward to Brandon’s new CD starting to come your way via single releases starting in August of 2025.
