The Americana songwriting duo of Adam and Chris Carroll will give a Susanna’s Kitchen performance on September 18, at the Wimberley United Methodist Church.
Want to hear a good story? Listen to any Adam Carroll song. His Texas peers sure have, over and over again, and are quick to heap superlatives on a stoic artist whose compositions provide a solitary glimpse into a verdant imagination.
Jon Dee Graham says Carroll “may be the best songwriter that Texas ever produced,” while Robert Earl Keen proclaims, “If all were right with the world, Adam Carroll would be the Townes Van Zandt of our age.”
“His lyrics are like a good book. They take you somewhere and leave you better than they found you,” says Terri Hendrix.
Adam grew up in Tyler in the ‘70s and ‘80s, which he describes as “pretty southern” compared to other Lone Star habitats. This led him to identify with great southern bards like Flannery O’Connor and Lucinda Williams, even if he felt a bit out of place in his hometown.
He met Chris at a music festival in her hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario, in 2012. Chris was already a fan of Adam’s music and was “blown away” when she saw him play.
Now husband and wife, Adam and Chris have been touring together since they wed in 2013, initially as coheadliners before developing into a popular Americana-styled duo. With their music and as a duo, they demonstrate that musical soul mates do, in fact, exist. The synergy of their two distinctive and soulful voices is delightful.
Chris says that working with her husband, however, has proven to be a sort of fusion between dream and reality. “It feels like there was something missing that whole time.”
“I was terrified,” she says, “to write with him in the beginning. I was intimidated. I knew who I was married to. I’m crazy about his songwriting.”
The feeling is mutual. The Carrolls recently collaborated on the album, “Good Farmer” that sees Adam graciously — and shrewdly — yielding lead-vocal duties more often than not to his wife, who instills a certain verve into one of his best songs, “Hi-Fi Love,” that’s enough to dampen the edges of your grin with teardrops.
Adam and Chris Carroll’s performance is part of Susanna’s Kitchen Coffeehouse Concert Series at the Wimberley United Methodist Church, located at the corner of RR12 and CR1492. Tickets are $25. Cash or check only. Doors open at 7 and the concert begins at 7:30 pm. Tamales, pizza, pie, coffee and soft drinks are available for purchase. Proceeds benefit the Barnabas Connection, Bright Beginnings Preschool scholarships and other nonprofits. For more information go to wimberleyumc. org.
