Adams' parents bought him his first electric guitar at the age of 14 and he has never looked back. His rise to stardom began with performances in several Jacksonville bands before forming Whiskeytown in 1994. The group managed two albums, Faithless Street and Strangers Almanac before going their separate ways. A collaboration with Emmylou Harris followed, before Adams went solo in earnest, releasing his first album - Heartbreaker, in 2000. Over the next few years his work became prolific, but it was his second album, Gold, that really propelled him to fame. After producing Jesse Malin's debut release (The Fine Art Of Self Destruction), the two formed punk-rock group The Finger, dabbling in a new genre of music before turning back to his country roots with the somewhat bleak, Love Is Hell. Featuring a cover of Oasis' Wonderwall, Adams earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and high praise from Noel Gallagher. Another collaborative foray followed in 2005, as Adams hooked up with his backing band The Cardinals to throw out two more albums with a more rocky vibe. The group then went on to perform on Willie Nelson's Songbird, with Adams also producing. Since then, his work has continued to be both prolific and eclectic, with some experimentation into hip-hop, as well as poetry with his book Infinity Blues.