Highly Recommended. Seattle Musician said, "this is Zwig's masterpiece, a compelling combination of pedal steel guitar influenced country folk rock and the lyrical politics of love and social justice".

13 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Americana, FOLK: Power-folk



Details:
Adam Zwig, song-smith, musician, psychotherapist and writer, was the originator, song-writer and lead guitarist for Shapeshifter. Form 1997-2002 Zwig and Shapeshifter toured the country, had the hit single "My Enemy" on national radio, and charted consistently in the top 10 in the nation. They produced an award winning video, entered the Album Networks' Best Sellers category for CD sales in the Northwest, and garnered amazing press reviews where ever they went. Shapeshifter graced the front page of Napster and at one point "My Enemy" was the most downloaded song. With Shapeshifter, Zwig released 4 albums on Pinch Hit Records in L. A., as well as being on compilation CD's with such notables as Cyress Hill, Elliot Smith and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

In 2002, Zwig decided to go solo and delve back into his blues and folk roots. At the time, Zwig said, "Playing in a modern rock band is a great experience, has a tribal element to it. You feel like you're in a gang and your taking on the world. But I had always been drawn to the old stuff -- real singer / songwriters that meant business, sang like professional criminals, make you want to drive your car over a cliff, deadly serious, more than just light entertainment, a guide into an altered consciousness of reality, stuff that gave you more of the big picture. Nothing commercial like we were doing. Nothing easy going or just giving the impression of heaviness but without any insight. Like Dylan once said, 'songs about debauched bootleggers, mothers that drowned their own children, Cadillacs that only got five miles to the gallon, floods, union hall fires, darkness and cadavers at the bottom of rivers weren't for radiophiles'.

But these were exactly the kinds of songs I was interested in. And at some point, my mind and heart caught fire with these songs. My imagination was ablaze. I'd had a revelation. It had been right under my nose and I hadn't realized it. Almost all the spiritual teachings of all time and everywhere are contained in folk and blues songs. I already knew this about blues but folk was an awakening for me. And it's spoken in a plain-talking and direct way - nothing esoteric or high-faulting or intellectual about it. And it champions the common person and the disenfranchised, marginalized, forgotten and kicked to the curb, the poor and the oppressed. And it speaks spirituality in a home-spun, down to earth, shared, common way, and has a socially minded awareness. Maybe the blues is a bit more physical and folk a bit more social, but they both deal with life, death, God, love, freedom, ecstasy, the universe - the whole shebang. It's all right there with all the real life nuances."

The result was three critically acclaimed albums. The first, on Conscious Records, was "Pictures of the Gone America," which seamlessly melds folk style lyrics with a genuine, original sound he called "blue-hop" (an authentic and unique mixture of blues and hip-hop). Portland's Willamette Week said the album..."could perk up ears far beyond Puddletown. Zwig's got chops and brains to his credit and his music fuses blues into a hip-hop groove so smoothly he makes it look like he invented the idea."

The second, was "Koan, which maintains some of the bluesy vibe of "Pictures..." but heads more in the folk- rock direction a la Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Recorded in his apartment using the most basic recording equipment, Zwig came up with a true gem of an album - raw, earthy, rockin' and rootsy. He co-produced the album with Jon Plum who has worked with Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mellissa Etheridge and many others. Columbia Records recording artists Brandi Carlile and Tim Hanseroth sing backing vocals and Candle Box's Scott Mercado plays drums along with L.A.'s Brandon Harper. Magnasphere Magaizine called "Koan" "a breath of fresh air in an otherwise conformist musical environment."

The third, his latest, is "Cast Iron Letters", which continues the direction of "Koan" and mines deeply perrenial human themes through laid back raw roots rock. Seattle Musician said, "this is Zwig's masterpiece, a compelling combination of pedal steel guitar influenced country folk rock and the lyrical politics of love and social justice".

In addition to this latest release, Zwig is currently completing a book on personal development called "Power Source" to be published by Penguin.