I talked with veteran singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer Doug Adamz about ramblin’ with Ramblin’ Jack, singing with Joan Baez, composing music used by the Joffrey Ballet and creating music unbounded by genre or musical geography.

Reminding us that “out of the mouths of children” often come the greatest truths, veteran singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Doug Adamz, takes the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance from his childhood and confronts the hypocrisy and callousness of our leaders in this moment. His single “For All” demands that the promise of liberty and justice really mean for All, for every person regardless of wealth or status. Sung with the innocence of a child and the wisdom of an elder, this is a song for our moment; poignant, even tender but demanding to be heard, a voice raised to confront injustice and prejudice and callousness.

Ron Cooke (RC): Doug, your song for “For All” uses the Pledge Of Allegiance as a way to ask if America is still committed to its values. What was your first experience with the Pledge of Allegiance and what did it mean to you then?

Doug Adamz (DA): My generation started each school day facing the flag, putting our hands over our hearts and reciting the pledge. It seemed right and good. It promoted a sense of fairness and security, like Santa Claus. It was decades later that we started to realize how far off the mark those words could be. The problem with half truths is the other half.

RC: The song “For All” is very much in the folk roots vein but you have done music in a number of genres. What is it that excites you musically and brings you to explore those different realms?

DA: Acoustic music, songwriting, playing in bands, all that feels like home, but there’s much other magnetic and compelling music as well. Of the music I’ve  created, the best  known on the world-stage is instrumental music based on Arabic percussion and rhythms. I use violin for the main melodic voice. Between the late seventies and the nineties (back in the 1900s) I produced four albums of that exotic music using the name “Light Rain.” It’s still being streamed around the world: including countries I’ve never heard of. In 1980 The Joffrey Ballet choreographed a dance to it that ballet companies are still performing—notably, The City of San Diego Ballet in October 2026 and The Eugene Ballet in 2027. It was featured in a film called The Company by Robert Altman. (My late musical compadre, Russ Gauthier, wrote the piece used in the movie.)

 

DA: That all happened because, in the mid-seventies I packed my fiddle, guitar, some granola and harmonicas into my VW van and headed west from my hometown, El Paso, to San Francisco, where I fell in with a troupe of belly dancers. I improvised melodies to their finger cymbals and Doumbec. (All the while remaining a folkie and songwriter.)

RC: You have performed and traveled with many of the greats including Ramblin’ Jack Elliot. He has a reputation for being a character. What was that experience like?

DA: After arriving in California, it didn’t take me long to gravitate to Marin County, especially the rural region of west Marin, along Highway One: rolling hills and pastures, isolated coastlines and fog. I found myself at a small music party with Jack. We were going ‘round the circle, taking turns playing songs, and every time it came around to Jack he demurred. The hostess urged him: “Come on, Jack, play 912 Greens.” He’d say, “Aw, nobody wants to hear that.” Later, when the sun was setting and we were all thoroughly warmed up, she finally convinced him to play. It was a life-changing moment. We were all mesmerized by the story he wove. 

Another music party and we crossed paths again. We figured out that we lived just two miles apart on Highway One. He invited me to come by “anytime. You don’t have to call.” But I did call in advance one morning. “Hey, Jack. You want to go get a cup of coffee?”

That was the first of our rambles up and down that stretch of coast. Usually starting with a cup of coffee, then off on a trail of whim: once in search of Nigerian Cattle, once to the boatyard in Sausalito where they were building a giant masted, wooden sailing ship. We went looking for the camel that lived west of Petaluma. We walked the beach and found a makeshift driftwood shack before the tide took it away and we sat in a workshop with Ted, who made reeds for uiliann pipes.

All the while, I listened to his stories: learning how rope was made in the 1700’s, the time he met Salvador Dali, names of famous rodeo cowboys of the past. When he learned that my great grandfather was a top hand on The Goodnight Ranch he thumbed through a thick book on his shelf about Charles Goodnight and found three excerpts mentioning my great grandfather, Lemuel Brandon, and he read them to me.

RC: What other characters have you found memorable?

DA: I’ve been blessed with so many brilliant friendships, memorable characters all. Two that were intertwined were Peter Rowan and Ponderosa Pine. Peter sometimes played, unannounced, in a small club in Point Reyes, California. After his set, I introduced myself and said, “We have a mutual friend: Ponderosa Pine.” His eyes lit up and we started talking about Ponderosa (now gone). Ponderosa was an eccentric, always barefoot, chanter and creator of “mantric skat”, an associate of Allen Ginsberg and others of the beats.  Peter and I had each (but separately) spent nights by around a fire with Pine and other folks from a hidden, coastal town, chanting until dawn. Since then, Peter and I have recorded together, written a song together sat around song circles and Christmas dinners. To me, like Jack, he is a mentor, an inspiration and friend.

Sometime in the ’90s my band had a weekly gig in a village south of San Francisco. For a while Joan Baez was coming in every week. She’d spontaneously get up and sing with us. The night I did Long Black Veil, we sang a perfect duet, switching off melody and harmony, our voices richly blending in one of those rare moments of artistic perfection. That was before everyone was walking around with a cell phone growing out their hands, so you’ll have to take my word for it. I doubt that Joan has any recollection of our perfect performance, but I’ll never forget it! 

I wish I could play “For All” for Joan. She certainly qualifies as a major mentor and inspiration for that song. I wrote it in 2020 after George Floyd was murdered, when we were all thinking, “I knew it was bad. I didn’t know it was this bad.”  I wish it would stop being so damn relevant.

RC: Doug, thank you for sharing your music and stories. “For All” is available on most platforms including at: https://music.apple.com/us/album/for-all-single/6795674936

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Ron Cooke is the author of a book of short stories and poems entitled Obituaries and Other Lies (available at Amazon); writes a well-received blog (ASSV4U.com/blog); and hosts a weekly radio show called Music They Don’t Want You to Hear on KTAL-LP in Las Cruces, NM.  He is also a founding director of A Still Small Voice 4U, a not for profit supporting arts, culture and community that presents folk concerts, sponsors artists, festivals and community groups. Ron is an avid cyclist, racer, blogger, sculptor and ne’er-do-well.