In The Spotlight

ADAM CHANCE

Adam Chance Ray grew up in North Baldwin County, attending Perdido School and graduating from Baldwin County High School in 2002. He was in the marching band during his high school years where he established a good foundation in music on which to build his career. He is multi-talented, playing several instruments—guitar, mandolin, banjo, and saxophone, but the instrument that he has become known for is that smooth, deep, singing voice. He studied journalism and music at the University of Alabama where, together with some other talented college friends, he sang in a group called Street Corner Symphony which was formed to enter The Sing-Off, a reality show singing competition. That was in 2010. The entire state of Alabama watched as they won the second-place title at the finale, but Baldwin County, Bay Minette and Perdido really cheered them on, as we had a home-town boy in the a cappella group, and they made us proud. The show earned them national attention and they were well on their way to careers in the music industry. During his years with SCS, Adam adopted the stage name “Adam Chance” dropping his last name.

Meanwhile, another a cappella group, Home Free, which was formed in 2000, competed in and won Season 4 of The Sing-Off in 2013. Bagging a large cash prize, and a recording contract, the group was propelled onto the national stage with a couple of big-label records, released in 2014. Over the years, members came and went, but they were steadily honing their talents and gaining popularity as they played small stages in the US and performed on cruise ships. In 2016, HF announced that after sixteen years, the founder of the group, Chris Rupp, would leave to pursue a solo career. That opened up the position that Adam filled. Group members and their roles, as published by Wikipedia, are as follows: “In terms of musical roles, Home Free is structured like a traditional barbershop quartet, with a lead tenor, two harmony voices, and a bass. The lead tenor, who fronts the group and sings most of the solos, is Austin Brown. Tenor harmony is sung by Rob Lundquist, baritone harmony is sung by Adam Chance, and Tim Foust sings bass, with the latter two switching roles occasionally. In addition to the four voices, percussion sounds are provided by beatboxer Adam Rupp. Although Brown is Home Free’s primary soloist, all of the other members occasionally sing solos as well.”

In recent years, the group has moved from an “all-purpose” group into the country music genre where they have gained a large following and have fans all over the world.

They have released eleven albums so far, with every single one since 2014 shooting to the top of the Billboard charts. Their latest, Dive Bar Saints was released in late 2019 and they began their Dive Bar Saints World Tour.

The Country Music Tattle Tale headline on September 19 reads, “Home Free takes Dive Bar Saints to the top with #2 Debut on the Billboard Country Album Sales Chart.” (Follow the link to read the article and see their world tour schedule which was interrupted by the pandemic.) https://countrymusictattletale.com/2019/09/19/home-free-takes-dive-bar-saints-to-the-top-with-2-debut-on-the-billboard-country-album-sales-chart/

In early 2020, as they were touring Europe, the dreaded COVID- 19 pandemic struck. They quickly boarded a plane and came back to the states where they’ve been waiting it out at home, just like the rest of us.

During the quarantine, Adam has been “going live” on social media with a weekly chat session from his home in California, where he drinks coffee and tells us about what he’s listening to on his playlist. You can access the playlist on Spotify. It’s called “Laid Back Cafe 2020.” You can tune in and hang out with him on Tuesdays at 11AM Pacific (which is 1:00PM in Bay Minette) on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/theAdamChance/ or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/homefreeguys/.

Adam just recently shared some big news with us! While in quarantine, he proposed to his girl, Sami, and she said yes! Congratulations to the happy couple!  Your hometown fans wish you both much happiness and a long life together making beautiful memories.

If you’re a newcomer, or just somehow missed our hometown boy making it big, I’m going to suggest that you go to YouTube and search “Home Free,” I promise you will be amazed at their work and you’ll become a fan, and then like me, you’ll be hoping that one of these days soon, they will bring their act to a stage nearby. Then we can really show them what hometown pride looks like.

Adam is the featured voice in Home Free’s beautiful cover of Thomas Rhett’s Die a Happy Man. See the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Xb1WhmYqs

Follow Adam on Facebook (Adam Chance) and Instagram (@theadamchance) and Home Free on Facebook (Home Free Vocal Band) and Instagram (@homefreeguys) and here's a link to their YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/homefree.

*All photographs were used with permission.