Andrew Adkins

Andrew Adkins doesn’t chase the spotlight—he bends it. Based in Nashville, just across the river from the neon bustle of Broadway, Adkins has been quietly carving out one of the more intriguing catalogs in modern underground rock. A shapeshifter by design and a lifer by default, he’s the kind of artist whose work doesn’t just sound like something—it feels lived-in, dreamt-up, and a little haunted.

Before going solo, Adkins cut his teeth in a pair of promising, combustible bands. The first was Mellow Down Easy, a swampy blues-rock trio (Dualtone Records). The second—Lions for Real—was a gritty fever dream that burned bright, got picked up by Ryan Gosling’s label, Werewolf Heart Records, and flamed out just as fast. Instead of chasing the next hype cycle, Adkins turned inward. Since 2013, he’s released a string of solo albums that refuse to play by genre rules. His songs don’t so much follow a formula as they unspool like strange little films. His music has found its way into film and TV (Peacock, Lionsgate Films, Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, CBS), yet he’s managed to sidestep the machine—remaining defiantly independent and idiosyncratic.

Adkins has shared bills with names like Sturgill Simpson, Lainey Wilson, Cage the Elephant, and Billy Joe Shaver, but don’t mistake him for a scene-hopper—he’s part of the same lineage. . The uncompromising ones. Those who never quite fit into the box but built their own corners of the map instead.