For the past two decades, Adam Young has been bringing his particular style of Cape Breton piano accompaniment to audiences around the world. Deeply rooted within the fiddle and bagpipe music tradition of the Island’s Scottish settlers, the Cape Breton piano style has evolved over the past century, incorporating subtle elements of jazz and popular music, while still maintaining that unique “Cape Breton” sound.
Adam’s music continues that stylistic evolution⸺his new album, Yearbook, features arrangements inspired by everything from bluegrass to doo-wop, to New Orleans jazz, to 8-bit video games, to modern disco and classical music. Each of the featured compositions was written during a tune-a-day project that spanned from January to December 2018; each was recorded in both a “modern” style and a “traditional” style for the double album project. While the trad album features more expected arrangements, the experimental versions are a testament to the transformative power of music as an art that connects cultures and generations, blending the past and the present. Musicians from five countries on three continents were involved in this landmark project, with each bringing unique musical elements, each adding their own personal touch. This is an album made for the listener: it’s not about the musician; it’s about the music.
Prior to this project, Adam was primarily known as an accompanist. His first foray into another territory occurred when he created and directed the Louisbourg Playhouse’s popular music and comedy revue, Cape Breton Lyrics & Laughter, which has seen close to 400 performances since it began in 2002. He still plays regularly (in non-pandemic times…) at concerts, ceilidhs, square dances and sessions throughout Cape Breton, and has showcased his talents across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, while touring with the likes of Colin Grant, Còig, Dara Smith-MacDonald, Anita MacDonald, and Jennifer Roland.
In addition to this latest recording and the publishing of its companion tunebook, Adam can be heard on recordings with Dara Smith-MacDonald and Colin Grant, Cape Breton Lyrics & Laughter, Eric Angus Whyte, Jason MacDonald, Marilyn MacDonald-MacKinnon, and the Scottish/Austrian fiddle and bagpipe duo Jamie MacDonald and Christian Gamauf. He has a couple of other recording projects slated for later in 2021 featuring musicians from both Canada and the United Kingdom.
