Born and raised in San Diego, California, Adam Gnade enjoys swimming in rivers and lakes, driving at night, and drinking red wine out of mason jars. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon with two rescued pit bulls and considers himself a better than average shot with a Remington shotgun. Hymn California, available here, is his first book.
Adam is also a musician, his songs and stories share characters and plots, the stories immersed in the songs, the songs immersed in the stories, to create a universe of lives and backstories. And due to the narrative tone of his songs and the lyric nature of his writing, Hymn California will see life as a book, as songs, and as a running collection of all these parts here at CASH.
There are three ways you can support Adam in what he’s doing: buy a book, see a show, or just say thanks by leaving a
small donation below.
The trade paperback will be officially out in mid-June, though it's available for preorder now and we’ll ship all pre-orders as soon as they can be fulfilled in May. The cost is $16 (USD) postage-paid. You can see the cover here.
PREORDER VIA PAYPAL ($16)
As for the rest: we’ll post tourdates when Adam’s on the road, and while there aren't any at the moment, there will be soon.
The music and writing is yours to download. But as mentioned above, please consider making a one-time contribution in the amount of your choice using the form below:
Each month, for the next year, a new installation of Hymn California will appear here, serially publishing the book as both screen-friendly
and printer-friendly editions. Take, share, read, and listen. But we ask that you please support Adam in one of
the ways listed on this page.
Part 1:
- Hymn California, Part 1 (screen-friendly ebook - PDF)
- Hymn California, Part 1 (printer-friendly PDF)
- Music: “Cousin be Strong”
Adam on the music:
“Cousin be Strong” — I like to mix it up. Play solo a while, get the improv kids to show up for the night with trumpets and
tambourines, have a band... keep it loose. We called this one Adam Gnade & the Confederate Yankees. It was myself,
Thaddeus Christian — who I still record with — Johnny Askew, Brian Smith, Shiloh Halsey, and a couple other guys who came and
went. In theory, it was a revolving, communal lineup but those four guys were in it the whole time. (“Cousin be Strong”...
the title’s a tribute to one of Matthew from Phosphorescent’s songs.) It's about imperialism and survival. Bombs falling.
Red skies. Cracked earth. New life coming from the ruins. Pagan sensibilities. Hope. Earth magic. War is in most of the
songs, but this one’s literally a war song. Some of my people are in the military right now, some of ‘em over in the gulf,
and war hits you different when you’re personally invested. Also, it’s a pep talk. A lot of these songs start as pep talks
for people I love who are having a rough time. Wrote the lyrics (prose, not poetry, never poetry) in London, finished 'em
in San Diego. Thad's guitar part started freaky country then turned into something else. “Something else” is my favorite
mantra.
