Adeem the Artist

Adeem the Artist bucks as many country conventions as they embrace. A native of North Carolina, Adeem is steeped in country music tradition, alternating between folky storytelling and earthy down-home rockers. These familiar sounds provide a sympathetic bed for their empathetic portraits of America in the 2020s, a place where many are struggling for equality. Adeem the Artist first gained acclaim for their 2021 album Cast Iron Pansexual, the record where they embraced their pansexual identity. Its rave reviews led to Thirty Tigers releasing Adeem’s 2022 album White Trash Revelry. The acclaim for these two records allowed the singer/songwriter to expand their sonic horizons with Anniversary, a 2024 album produced by Butch Walker where Adeem the Artist embraced the sound of mainstream country, if not the sensibility. Born Adem Bingham in Locust, North Carolina, in 1988, they spent their adolescence in Syracuse, New York. They began their professional musical career performing on cruise ships while they were in their twenties, eventually settling in Knoxville, Tennessee, with hopes of becoming a pastor. By 2011, Adeem had left the church to concentrate on secular music. Over the next few years, they steadily issued a number of self-released albums, gaining an online following. By the release of 2021′s Cast Iron Pansexual, the singer/songwriter went by the name Adeem the Artist. Cast Iron Pansexual received enough attention that Thirty Tigers signed Adeem to a deal in April 2022. By the end of the year, the label had released White Trash Revelry, Adeem the Artist’s second high-profile album, which helped them earn a nomination for Emerging Act of the Year at the 2023 Americana Music Honors & Awards fest. Adeem the Artist teamed with producer Butch Walker for Anniversary, a 2024 album recorded in a five-day session at Nashville’s the Butcher Shoppe. Featuring contributions from Aaron Lee Tasjan and Katie Pruitt, Anniversary sounded closer to mainstream country than Americana. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine