bio
Adeem Maria (they/them/theirs) is a seventh-generation Carolinian, a makeshift poet, singer-songwriter, storyteller, and blue-collar Artist. They began toiling at their instrument in 2002 when their family relocated to Syracuse, NY and used songwriting as a vehicle to process the ensuing culture shock, their faith, and later their journey through apostasy.
Blending a homegrown affection for Country Music with the emotional ballyhoo of alternative folk in the early aughts, they have created a unique brand of Americana that pays homage to John Prine and John Darnielle (of The Mountain Goats) in equal parts.
On Cast-Iron Pansexual, they received praise from Rolling Stone & American Songwriter for their work exploring identity across coalescing subcultures. Traveling to Carolina to get their Tarot read while straddling the duality of being a "blue collar boy" who is a "complicated dame," Adeem excavates unwonted stories of the forgotten south.
After touring with American Aquarium and opening for acts like Will Hoge, Emily Wolfe, & Jaime Wyatt, they launched the "Redneck Fundraiser," to finance their new album. In a matter of a few weeks, they raised over $15,000 to work with an all-star cast of musicians on their upcoming record for a release in late 2022.
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Adeem The Artist
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PRESS
Adeem the Artist is a Knoxville, Tennessee-based singer-songwriter and their debut album Cast-Iron Pansexual lives up to its title with explorations of sexuality and gender expression that are equally clever and poignant. On the album’s banjo-driven title track, Adeem stakes out their place as a born Southerner armed with a radical outlook and a brain that won’t just ease up. “I’m a Marxist marching on oligarchs and a connoisseur of cornbread,” they sing, envisioning the path to a South that’s made for all of us.
- Rolling Stone
Every song on this album oozes individuality and pure, unadulterated Adeem. From the joyous spoken-word title track to the meditative “Apartment”, Cast Iron Pansexual is a bracing, hilarious and genuine album that strikes at the heart of what a country record should be.
- Country Queer
Adeem describes themselves as a blue-collar Artist, and a pro-people, anti-capitalist fervour beats in the heart of Cast-Iron Pansexual. The music reflects this intimate humanity too, as Adeem spins small stories of enormous queer lives over percussion-less bluegrass and country. From the quiet longing of “Apartment” or light-hearted coming-of-age opener “I Never Came Out,” Adeem finds gentle humour and yearning in stories so often defined by hurt and fear.
Cast-Iron Pansexual is music for all people, the kind of record that is painstakingly careful to leave the door open to any who may hear themselves in it. In music that recognizes both the weight and joy of queer life, Adeem the Artist continues the mission of those who came before them ⎯ painting country’s canonical sounds with brand new colour.
- Parton and Pearl
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