We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adam Stern a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Adam, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

My last “regular” job was in 2016. I was burnt out with music in Denver and moved to Delray Beach, FL where I lived with my mom and stepdad. As far as I was concerned I was done with playing forever.

I got a job in call center selling “tech support” for Windows computers. People’s computers would get locked up looking at sketchy porn sites and be directed to a helpline where you would magically “fix” everything for a fee. The customers were old men desperately trying to get whatever was stuck on their screen taken care of before their wives came home. Online extortion.

After two weeks of struggling to make “sales” I told the place this was all outrageously illegal and I was quitting. Got a job with a local music school (run by a guy who’s now in the very successful reggae band Artikal Sound System) and that lead to playing local gigs again. Eventually I made it back to Denver in April 2018 where I continue to thrive with music performance and teaching.

The call center got raided a week after I quit and almost 20 people went to prison. I never will turn my back on music again and haven’t had a regular job since.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I look at myself as a creative consultant for musical artists. People always ask “are you in a band?”

Bands are for little kids and old men — I’m neither.

One of the services I can help with is just helping artists assimilate material. In the jamtopia that is Denver we have a lot of rookie wookies that struggle to understand how song arrangements work. On the other end, there are a lot of older hobbyists for whom music is more like live karaoke and don’t quite understand how all the pieces are put together. Country music is looked at as “dumb” and “easy” but yet I have seen some of the best jazz musicians in this city get their ass handed to them by country. Songs matter.

Once we have the songs tight, let’s organize them and make a master list of tunes. If you are a business these songs are your assets. Now let’s put together a setlist. Three hour show? Don’t need to come out of the gate and melt faces on the first song, ease into it. But wait where do we get a gig to begin with? Maybe we put together an EPK. And let’s get into the right venues. Too many people in Denver are playing the right music to the wrong people.

So I’m not a manager or producer or booking agent but I can help connect the dots. One example I can point to is Doc Sadler Band. When I started working with them in 2018 they could barely get through an entire song. This summer we just played Red Rocks in front of 8000 people.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I have over 2500 followers on Instagram which is not bad for a relative nobody. Just post good content as full-screen Reels and use some hashtags (but don’t overdo it).

The username “countryjew” turned out to be good branding as well.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

As tough as making a living with music can be — and I have had several 4-6 week stretches this year without a single day off — I still feel gratitude that I don’t have to sit an office all day and take orders from a boss and schedule meetings in Microsoft Outlook.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.adamsternmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/countryjew/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/adamsternguitar

Image Credits

The primary picture I submitted (where I’m on pedal steel) was taken by Sandra Quinlan.

Instagram: wastedamericanyouth