On The Row: Adam Doleac

Adam Doleac. Photo: Haley Crow for MusicRow

For the protection of MusicRow staffers and visitors, all visits were suspended last week after this artist visit. 

Sony Music Nashville’s Adam Doleac has explored many interests in his lifetime before becoming an Arista Nashville recording artist, from playing golf in high school and being offered a full-ride scholarship, to trying out for baseball and playing his first game on the same day during his senior year, and being offered another scholarship for baseball.

Doleac took the baseball offer and ended up playing at the University of Southern Mississippi. During that time, his housemates encouraged him to pursue yet another passion that he was a natural at: singing and performing.

In a recent visit to the MusicRow Magazine offices, Doleac talked about his journey to making country music.

“I was thinking I was going to play professional baseball, that was my new game plan and I got offers to do that my junior and senior year, but somewhere in the middle there I started playing guitar,” Doleac says. “My roommates and teammates all played guitar to try to get girls, like baseball players do. I would just kind of pick theirs up and teach myself—I’ve still never had a lesson. They were the ones that heard me singing around the house and tried to push me into singing in front of other people. They said, ‘You need to sing in front of people,’ and I said, ‘Absolutely not.’

“They actually found these little horrible bars in my home town and said, ‘So-and-so is playing Saturday at 6 p.m.,’ so I’d have to show up. That was kind of my introduction to playing for people. When it came time to either decide to go play minor league baseball or move to Nashville, I ended up moving to Nashville, leaving baseball behind.”

Pictured (L-R): Adam Doleac and MusicRow‘s Sherod Robertson. Photo: Haley Crow for MusicRow

The singer/songwriter has been in Nashville for about seven years, and has had some success as a songwriter writing for Sony/ATV with cuts including Darius Rucker’s “Don’t,” Hootie & The Blowfish’s “Rollin,” Kane Brown’s “Pull It Off,” and Gabby Barrett’s “Hall of Fame.”

Doleac performed his debut major label single, “Famous,” which he co-wrote with Andy Skib and Bobby Hamrick, as well as a fan-favorite “Whiskey’s Fine.”

Doleac has been touring with Scotty McCreery, Ryan Hurd and Mitchell Tenpenny, and will do some headlining dates this spring. He also has an upcoming EP on the horizon.

Pictured: Adam Doleac with MusicRow staff members. Photo: Woody Bomar