We’re thrilled to welcome Adam Beattie to our publishing family! A lot of people use that phrase in music, and it sometimes seems a little crass, but in Adam’s case, family is precisely the right word. Adam was part of PicaPica who we publish Samantha Whates’ share of, and is a longtime friend of both Samantha and Jamie Doe (The Magic Lantern). He’s someone we’ve seen play in various guises and venues over the years, a brilliant songwriter and a celebrated musician of the London scene.

He has been active since 2003 and has released 5 albums of his own songs. Having roots in Scottish folk music, as well as a lifelong interest in old time jazz, blues and other folk styles, his music spans many genres, but is all held together by Adam’s distinctive voice and narrative lyrics.

Adam has recently released his brand new solo album ‘Somewhere Round The Bend’ on 12″ and CD which has received praise from the likes of Line Of Best Fit calling it “Stirring Folk Balladry” and Loud And Quiet Magazine awarding it 8/10 and claiming “The album is mesmeric”. The album was also championed by BBC Radio Scotland presenter Roddy Hart, who featured it as his ‘Record Of Note’ and invited Adam to speak on the show and curate a selection of songs as his ‘Me-In-3’ guest.

‘Somewhere Round The Bend’ came fresh off the back of his Rough Trade release with PicaPica, a collaboration album with Grammy nominated producer Sonny Johns, BBC Folk Singer Of The Year Josienne Clarke, and singer-songwriter Samantha Whates, as well as his Scottish supergroup Band Of Burns’ latest release being named ‘Album Of The Month’ in Mojo (4 stars) and BBC Music Magazine (5 stars). After four studio albums collaborating with notable producers, this new record sees Beattie at the helm for the first time, on fire as a multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer.

Over his years of extensive European touring and festival appearances, Adam has played opening shows for many of his musical heroes; Bert Jansch, Jolie Holland and Sean Hayes. 

As a multi-instrumentalist accompanist he has recently played guitar and bass for global singer-songwriter star Birdy (Atlantic Records). And recorded with and accompanied many acclaimed artists on the local London scene; Fiona Bevan, Garance Louis, Gabriel Moreno, Leonie Evans and Brooke Sharkey.

The new album features drums from Mercury nominated Seb Rochford (Polar Bear, Patti Smith, Adele), double bass from Fred Thomas (ECM Records), backing vocals from multi-platinum singer-songwriter Fiona Bevan (Lewis Capaldi, Billie Marten, Matthew E. White), as well as Adam’s regular badass bandmates Marco Quarantotto, Zac Gvirtzmann and Filippo Ferazzoli.

He’s the real deal – a deft, wry and disarming story teller and lyricist who can be warm, funny or razor sharp in the space of a few lines. He’s a tremendous musician, and exactly the kind of human being we love to work with at Karousel.

You can buy the new album on his BandCamp here.

‘Carefully crafted, gently affecting songwriting’ – Roddy Hart, BBC RADIO SCOTLAND