When Adam Doleac was two years old, growing up in Hattiesburg, Miss., his f… Read Full Bio ↴When Adam Doleac was two years old, growing up in Hattiesburg, Miss., his father Donnie taught him to play that drumbeat.

By the time he was two, Adam had already displayed some musical talent.

Singing came much later, unless you count the video of four-year-old Adam, sporting a leather jacket and sunglasses, performing Ray Charles’ “I Got A Woman.”

Even though he demonstrated musical talent, as a youngster, Adam also excelled in sports. There was soccer, t-ball, and even ice hockey. The Mississippi Sea Wolves played in a rink an hour south of Hattiesburg, and his parents drove him there so he could participate in a league.

Adam also played baseball until he was 13, when he gave it up for golf. “I was away every weekend playing tournaments.” Halfway through his Junior year in high school, he was offered a full golf scholarship to Delta State University. With offers for golf and basketball already on the table, after being talked into playing baseball his Senior year by his friends, the University of Southern Mississippi made its own offer of a baseball scholarship after just one year of playing. Adam accepted and went on to win three rings in four years as the Southern Miss. Conference USA Champ. He also played in the College World Series in 2009.

That decision changed the course of his life. “It’s unbelievable how much one decision can impact where life takes you,” he says. His college roommates were on the baseball team with him – and they were all guitar players. “That’s where I learned my first chords. On Dec. 29, 2010, I wrote my first song while on vacation in the Dominican Republic.” It was the first time out of the country for the Mississippi native who had only experienced Hattiesburg and family vacations in Florida. “I remember sitting on a hotel balcony on the third floor, watching people of all different ethnicities and walks of life. I’d never seen any of that before, and that gave me the idea for my first song, ‘Travel On.’ I put it on YouTube and the next thing I knew, it had 450,000 views.”

Adam wrote four more songs and released an EP while he was still playing baseball. Over one thousand people showed up for a CD release party in his hometown. Then Adam hit the road, and for the first time, sang live in front of people. Success on the road led to more songwriting and a full-length album. “I was driving back and forth to Nashville to write songs so I decided to move there to write with other people.” Adam arrived in Music City on Oct. 15, 2012. “It’s a happy, driven city,” he says. “Everybody is chasing after something they love to do.”

Things moved relatively quickly for Adam in Nashville. In a little over a year, he had already experienced having his first song played on the radio. His mother called to let him know she heard “I Put It On Ya” on SiriusXM’s The Highway, and Adam quickly tuned in so he could hear it himself. “Hugh Freeze, the head football coach at Ole Miss, loves the song and blares it over the stadium speakers when the team is practicing.”

He then met Jake LaGrone, who became his manager, and in 2015, signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV. He’s played nearly 400 shows the last two years, but has scaled back live performances lately to allow more time for writing songs. He’s penned upwards of 200 songs since the day “Travel On” was written on the balcony in the Dominican Republic, and in the last few months, several country superstars have put holds on some of his compositions, including Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Justin Moore and David Nail.

What’s next for the country artist whose diverse influences range from John Mayer to the Eagles and Chris Stapleton? He’s about to record a new EP and has been taking meetings with various labels in Nashville. His dream is to play the big stadiums and arenas and every day brings him one step closer to fulfilling that dream. Look for his name on the charts soon – both as a songwriter and as an artist, one of country’s next superstars.