Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Adam Swanson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Adam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I wasn’t sure for a long time whether I could make a living as a performer. The styles of music I love the most — ragtime and early jazz — are not taught in academia. Everyone I talked to from my parents to college professors said, “You can’t play ragtime for a living”! After several years of graduate school (which I did not enjoy), I finally decided to pursue concert piano work full time. I left graduate school around 2017 and have been playing professionally ever since. It seems to be working well enough, and I started weekly virtual concerts on Facebook and YouTube when the pandemic hit. These livestreams are now regularly watched by 200+ people every Sunday night and have greatly helped my career!

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

My love of music started at age ten when I heard “Maple Leaf Rag.” My mother taught me for a few months, after which I had to get a real piano teacher! I began performing professionally within the next year, winning the junior division of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest at age eleven. (I am now the only person to have won the adult division four times.)

I have since played at every major ragtime festival in the United States, several jazz festivals, major universities, and five overseas tours. I became the only protege of famed pianist Johnny Maddox who was on Dot Records in the 1950s when I met him at the Diamond Belle Saloon in Durango, CO. Johnny and I were fast friends from the time we met when I was twelve until the day he died at age 91. I would visit him at his historic Civil War home in Tennessee for at least a week every year. He taught me so much about the history of the music I love. He inspired me to start collecting sheet music, 78 rpm records, player piano rolls, autographed pictures, and so much more.

My life in music led to a huge passion for the history of early 1900s America. I also accompany silent films, give seminars, teach master classes, and more. I do everything else in my power to keep the fabulous, sophisticated, joyful music of the first half of the twentieth century alive. Because you cannot get a degree in this kind of music, my feeling is that the best way to keep it alive is via in-person performance. Career highlights include performing at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and my successful two-week solo concert tour of Australia.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

After a number of years of higher education, I realized that there are so few people doing what I do that I really should consider it my life’s goal to keep the ragtime and early jazz era alive. I want to prove that — even in 2023 — you can make a living as a professional ragtime / jazz concert pianist. I also want to share the era, history, and music I love with as many people as possible.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

There are perhaps two things I find about being a professional pianist that are most rewarding. One is that I get to be self-employed — I can make my own choices about my schedule, my life, and my work. I don’t have to sit in front of a desk from 8-5, and furthermore, the harder I work, the more money I can make.

The *main* reward is, however, very simple — making people happy!! The more I play and concertize across the country, I can think of no better reason for doing what I do. Making people happy!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.adamgswanson.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamgswanson/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdamSwansonPianist/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/adamgswanson

Image Credits
Adam G. Swanson