Adam Chaffins

Artist Information

Adam Chaffins earned his stripes the old-school way. In an industry of overnight success stories and TikTok stardom, he's something different: an award-winning musician who's genuinely put in the work, spending years in supportive roles — a road warrior for bluegrass icons; a songwriter for Grammy winners; a session musician for Nashville's elite — while steadily crafting his own sound. With the solo album Trailer Trash: Doublewide, he reintroduces himself not only as a collaborator, but as a craftsman, too, injecting his Appalachian roots into a distinctive brand of country music that's both timeless and timely.

Chaffins grew up in the same pocket of Eastern Kentucky that spawned genre-benders like Tyler Childers and Ricky Skaggs. Bluegrass, country, and mountain music were in the air, and he didn't study those sounds as much as absorb them via osmosis. Moving to Nashville after graduation, he found work writing songs for acts like The Infamous Stringdusters and playing bass for artists like Billy Strings. Even as the accolades piled up, though, Chaffins couldn't help but want to tell his own story.

That story takes center stage on Trailer Trash: Doublewide. The follow-up to 2020's Some Things Won't Last, it's not just a record about Chaffins' present; it's about his past, too, filled with songs about the landscapes, lives, and larger-than-life characters of the Bluegrass State. There's "King of Coal Dust County," a tale of a Robin Hood-style figure inspired by real-life East Kentucky schemers. There's "Lucky Me," a fusion of Randy Newman's sly, swaggering songwriting with the defiant, bootstrapping spirit of Chaffins' home state. There's "Kentucky Girl," a funky-tonk love song inspired by Brit Taylor — Chaffins' wife, musical partner, and frequent co-writer — and laced with the nostalgic hum of cicadas and crickets. "That's the summertime hiss of Eastern Kentucky," he says. "I visualize that place every time I hear the song, and it reminds me of where I come from."

Chaffins doesn't just come from Kentucky. He comes from a long line of country songwriters who blend humor with honesty. There's a tongue-in-cheek approach to songs like "Trailer Trash" — a gorgeous, soft-hued ballad, inspired by Chaffins' upbringing in a mobile home and imbued with a message that "anyone can shine any way they want to, regardless of where you come from" — and the greasy, groovy "Sugarcoat It." He delivers both songs with a wink, but it doesn't cheapen the lessons that lurk beneath. It was those qualities that convinced legendary producer Frank Rogers to offer Chaffins a publishing deal on the spot — making him just the third songwriter in Rogers' career to receive such an offer, after Chris Stapleton and Josh Turner — and it runs throughout these fourteen songs like life blood. Chaffins isn't just a musician's musician; he's a songwriter's songwriter.

With Trailer Trash: Doublewide, he shines a light on the full reach of his abilities. Chaffins pulls triple duty here, wrapping his baritone vocals around torch songs like "Hard to Reach" but balancing his frontman duties with those as a bassist and co-producer, too. Joining him in the creation process are a number of Nashville-based multi-instrumentalists and co-writers — people who, like him, have spent years playing multiple roles, examining music from new angles. The result is an album of richly layered and deeply felt music, and Chaffins stacks it with classic twang, analog warmth, and audiophile-level ear candy. "Older records like Ray Stephens' Misty really set the bar for us," he remembers, "but so did An Evening With Silk Sonic, which is a modern record that has such a vintage tint to it. It’s timeless and current at the same time. We focused on making things sound good for modern speakers, but still sounding like they could've existed during any year, too."

Spending years on the road as an instrumentalist for others — not just for Billy Strings, but for song-driven acts like Lee Ann Womack, Kendell Marvel, and Jake Owen, too — did more than sharpen Chaffins' chops as a bassist. It took him inside the songs of some of the genre's major craftsmen, showing him new ways to deliver stories. Now, he's refocusing the spotlight on his own work craft, turning his life story — a childhood in Kentucky, where he was raised by a former coal miner who once sold used trailers for a living, and an obsession with music that would soon take him all over the world — into a country album that swoons, swaggers, and stuns. "This music comes from my perspective of standing all over the stage," he says. "I’ve been a sideman and a frontman—but mostly, I’ve been a journeyman. And that journey’s all over this record.”