♪ Nights get long... ♪ Davis: Coming up on "Studio 3 Live"... Adeem: Well, it's a song that means a lot to me right now, actually.

I think I heard it the other night and I heard this, like, really beautiful ode to all the ways we can use tools that are supposed to bring us comfort and safety to harm ourselves.

♪ All the lives my duty cost ♪ ♪ Got the barrel's tip against my ribs ♪ ♪ Put a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ The arsenal of therapy tools and coping mechanisms that become ways of self destruction.

I just really -- it really resonated with me.

I don't know.

I heard the song, and I need to mention and it made me like it again.

♪ Night's getting longer ♪ ♪ The light goes dark ♪ ♪ I learned to put a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ Narrator: Funding for this program was provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation, as well as generations of families and friends who feel passionate about the programs they watch on Iowa PBS.

Good evening and welcome to "Studio 3 Live".

I'm your host, Mickey Davis.

Tonight's guest is singer songwriter Adeem the Artist.

A seventh generation Carolinian poet, storyteller, and blue collar artist, Adeem pulls from the songwriting sensibilities of John Prine just as much as they pull from the early 2000s angst of the punk music scene.

Adeem has shared the stage with artists such as Jason Isbell, Tyler Childers, and Iowan William Elliott Whitmore, and they recently made their debut at the historic Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

Please help me welcome to the stage Adeem the Artist.

[ Cheers and applause ] Adeem: Thank you.

[ Guitar music playing ] ♪♪ ♪ There was a child limp on the pavement ♪ ♪ Like a rag doll in the rubble there ♪ ♪ I want to reach through this vignette ♪ ♪ Pet the softness of his hair ♪ ♪ He was a child, man, just a child ♪ ♪ I can almost hear him laughing now ♪ ♪ I would give ten years at least of mine ♪ ♪ If it'd bring him back somehow ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Saw him on the TV through a smokescreen ♪ ♪ He was a prop on CNN ♪ ♪ Might have never seen him, if I'm honest ♪ ♪ If I saw that clip again ♪ ♪ When I start to get the night sweats ♪ ♪ My forehead wet with the stress of that memory ♪ ♪ I hardly can recall it now ♪ ♪ But my body measures it for me ♪ ♪ The muscles still remember ♪ ♪ What we saw when we were young ♪ ♪ Only wherever we're going ♪ ♪ We'll take where we come from ♪ ♪ And I see him when I'm sleeping ♪ ♪ But his face is like my son ♪ ♪ Under Palestinian wreckage ♪ ♪ Dust and shrapnel in his lungs ♪ ♪ Oh, my God, what have we done?

♪ ♪ What have we done?

♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] Great.

Adeem, welcome to "Studio 3 Live".

Tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your music.

Well, hey, thanks for having me.

I'm really grateful to be here.

I'm a country songwriter from North Carolina, lower Piedmont region.

You released your most recent album, "White Trash Revelry", in December of 2022.

Can you tell us a little bit about that album and what went into that writing and recording process?

Yeah, that was a record that took me several years to kind of pull together.

It was, you know, during the moments of lockdown, that kind of forced me into something like isolation.

I worked on music as medicine, and I think the more that I ruminated on that, the more these political themes and cultural themes that I'd been kind of gestating on came together to form a pretty linear idea in my brain, and that being, like, trying to find some way to stitch these stories together in a way that showcases their capacity for coexistence, for interplay, you know?

I'm really into story.

You know, I think we're told as children that our life is a story that we get to write, you know?

And that's true.

There's a lot of beauty in that, and it's absolutely true.

You're a fresh new beginning, but there's also all these other stories that are playing out, and some that begin with you and some that begin long, long before you.

In those stories, you kind of land right in the middle of, and that context becomes really important, because sometimes, the things you say mean different things and ripples out, you know, because of where you're coming from.

This is where I started exploring the story as it were, before me, I guess, and in true, selfish nature, that was to explore the beginning of me.

[ Chuckles ] [ Guitar music playing ] ♪ Started out as a light in my father's eye ♪ ♪ In a Texaco ♪ ♪ Mama was working overnight on Sam Wilson Road ♪ ♪ She was a madcap teenage runaway ♪ ♪ A year past graduation ♪ ♪ She was new in town and he was burning down ♪ ♪ The place with infatuation ♪ ♪ She fired red hot buckshot ♪ ♪ Distress calls across the parking lot ♪ ♪ A rebel reeling from the feeling of rooting around ♪ ♪ For a little repose ♪ ♪ They chased sunrise with moonshine ♪ ♪ After tussling and muttering secrets all night ♪ ♪ Started out as a light in Carolina ♪ ♪ I started out as a light in Carolina ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Started out as a light in my mother's eyes ♪ ♪ Many years ago ♪ ♪ In the numbing fires of live wires ♪ ♪ Loose in foster homes ♪ ♪ From my grandpa's fist to my mother's lip ♪ ♪ There's an ancestral impression ♪ ♪ An American inheritance ♪ ♪ Trauma and depression ♪ ♪ She fired red hot buckshot ♪ ♪ Distress calls across the parking lot ♪ ♪ A rebel reeling from the feeling of rooting around ♪ ♪ For a little repose ♪ ♪ They chased sunrise with moonshine ♪ ♪ After tussling and muttering secrets all night ♪ ♪ Started out as a light in Carolina ♪ ♪ I started out as a light in Carolina.

♪ ♪ From the birth canal ♪ ♪ To the whistle of emergency sirens ♪ ♪ You got a lot of skins to wear ♪ ♪ As you try to figure out who you are ♪ ♪ And it don't matter what people say ♪ ♪ Don't expect them to understand ♪ ♪ Ain't nobody, someone else's mistake ♪ ♪ Life is not always the things you plan ♪ ♪ Some of us have childhoods that aren't poems on sight ♪ ♪ But, darling, you're doing alright ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] This album was funded by what you called the redneck fundraiser.

You raised $15,000 via asks of $1 a person to make that album happen.

It's pretty incredible that you kind of pulled that together, and I think it's a really compelling story behind making that album happen.

I'm curious.

Can you tell us, why was it important to you to create such an accessible price point for people to support your work?

[ Chuckles ] What a hilarious grift, huh?

Yeah.

I the thing of it is, I didn't promise anything.

You know, I wasn't really selling anything.

I just was asking for $1.

Yeah, yeah.

I think for me, you know, especially at the time of looking at this, 15 grand is like half of what I make in a year.

It's like -- I don't even know if I found 15 grand, that making a record would be in the top 25 ideas.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

It would be on there, but it's a lot of stuff in line.

And so for me, it was like -- Especially being low class, especially seeing, you know, my friends, family members having to go fund surgeries, people having to -- you know, being in the in the trans community and how inaccessible healthcare is in our state -- just just all that weight felt really trivial to try and ask for this large lump sum of money.

So I just kind of championed around the idea of like, "Well, if we can do this, barn raising style, where, like, nobody loses, but I can make this thing, that's what I want to do," you know?

And it worked out.

I grew up in a particularly fundamentalist version of the Christian faith, and when you grow up in any sort of fundamentalism of any flavor, you kind of have three main choices as you navigate this life.

You can cling tight with white knuckles to the faith of your childhood and, you know, avail yourself of learning anything new, or you can abandon the faith of your youth in favor of all the new and exciting things you learn and get exposed to throughout your life, or you can find some way to reimagine the timeless truths of the faith you grew up in to embody something that's kind of uniquely yours.

You know what I mean?

And I chose the second way.

I just left, but people have told me that the third option is beautiful.

And I spent some time dabbling in it, too.

I go around.

I consider myself a seeker, I guess.

And so this is a song about that.

It's called "Fervent For The Hunger", and it's about still being, full of longing for whatever that infinite thing you used to have a name for is.

[ Guitar music playing ] ♪ It's true that I'm a kind of complicated dame ♪ ♪ I don't even know my original name ♪ ♪ I've been changing the damn thing since I was younger ♪ ♪ Just a kid with a mixed up head, fervent for the hunger ♪ ♪ And I'm a baptized, stylized, blue-collar boy ♪ ♪ A poetry, rotary, expression of joy ♪ ♪ Stitched up with sidewalks and time-clocks ♪ ♪ That rattle like thunder ♪ ♪ Just a kid with a mixed up head, fervent for the hunger ♪ ♪ When I dream, I dream in color ♪ ♪ But I mostly do not dream ♪ ♪ And I have seen god through the curtain ♪ ♪ When I'm just barely asleep ♪ ♪ She's holding out a basket ♪ ♪ Full of scones and other treats ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, I'm starving, but there's nothing I can eat ♪ ♪♪ ♪ And it's true that I've tried on different faces before ♪ ♪ Toiled over things I'm not responsible for ♪ ♪ Raptured by every philosophy, trafficking wonder ♪ ♪ Just a kid with a mixed up head, fervent for the hunger ♪ ♪ And I'm a holy ghost, boat post, poet of sorts ♪ ♪ A rain drop machine shop radio source ♪ ♪ Raptured with lip gloss and hot sauce ♪ ♪ And Indian summers ♪ ♪ Just a kid with a mixed up head ♪ ♪ F-F-F-Fervent for the hunger ♪ ♪ When I dream, I dream in color ♪ ♪ But I mostly do not dream ♪ ♪ And I have seen god through the curtain ♪ ♪ When I'm just barely asleep ♪ ♪ She's holding out a basket ♪ ♪ Full of scones and other treats ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, I'm starving ♪ ♪ But there ain't nothing I can eat ♪ ♪♪ ♪ What are you supposed to do ♪ ♪ When the God you're praying to up and goes missing?

♪ ♪ Leaves a trail of unpaid bills ♪ ♪ Broken homes and opioid addiction ♪ ♪ And I'm finding new charcuterie ♪ ♪ Mix and match until I find a meal that's suiting me ♪ ♪ Tired of these spinning wheels ♪ ♪ Metaphysical combo meals ♪ ♪ Holy illusory.

♪ ♪ When I dream, I dream in color ♪ ♪ But I mostly do not dream ♪ ♪ And I've seen God through the curtain ♪ ♪ When I'm just barely asleep ♪ ♪ And she's holding me in silence ♪ ♪ And she looks like me ♪ ♪ We are the same thing ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪♪ [ Chuckles ] [ Cheers and applause ] You know, I hear that theme again in your music and how you, again, interact with your fans online.

You know, you have a Patreon, which, you know, again, is another way of kind of democratizing support, right?

You have a dollar or $5, and your dollar a month members on your Patreon are called church members.

How has music helped you kind of think about your relationship with Christianity, and why do you incorporate some of those themes, whether it's kind of addressing Christianity or using terms like "church members" in how you kind of interact with your audiences?

Yeah, I mean... [ Chuckles ] I think I did that to be cheeky, you know?

But the line gets blurred for me sometimes.

I think that's true.

You know, providing pastoral care is kind of part of the job in my mind, because the world is in need of real care, and I don't know that I'm -- I don't know that I can care for the world or for people very well, but I was telling someone the other day, I feel like -- you know how people have, like, an angel and a demon on their shoulder?

I have, like, Fred Rogers on my shoulder, but on this side, I have Andy Kaufman, and he's disguised as Fred Rogers.

You can't tell them apart.

They're entirely indistinguishable.

So everything I've ever done has been to try to appease Fred Rogers, but I can't tell which is which.

[ Laughs ] If you're truly appeasing Fred Rogers or Andy Kaufman, a la Fred Rogers.

Yeah, it's tough to tell.

Yeah, yeah.

We're calling this right now "The Gospel According to a Demon", but that's not what pulls up on Spotify or whatever.

[ Guitar music playing ] ♪ When Jesus Christ was 12 years old ♪ ♪ He stumbled down the streets of Marlboro Golds ♪ ♪ A little thirsty for a hand to hold ♪ ♪ Anyone to elevate his name ♪ ♪ Burned a juniper smudge at dawn ♪ ♪ Danced 'round with nothing but his skivvies on ♪ ♪ To a yet unwritten Ray Wylie Hubbard song ♪ ♪ But he knew every lyric all the same ♪ ♪ So, he cried out "Allah!"

in the early morn ♪ ♪ "Where that I was somehow a human born ♪ ♪ I would cast our daemons and calm the storm ♪ ♪ From the window of my little red Pontiac" ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ likes fast cars ♪ ♪ Pedal to the metal because he's Lord ♪ ♪ Never had a whip that didn't have two doors ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ likes fast cars ♪ ♪ With a snap of God's fingers, the dead was done ♪ ♪ Jesus woke up as the Chosen One ♪ ♪ He was swaddled in the tunic of a virgin ♪ ♪ Listening for the jingling of keys ♪ ♪ Stretched his legs out and learned to walk ♪ ♪ Memorized scripture 'til he could talk ♪ ♪ But he daydreamed stick shifts and peeling off ♪ ♪ Into a Palestinian dream ♪ ♪ So he cried out, "Lord if this cup should pass ♪ ♪ I don't wanna live here if I can't drive fast" ♪ ♪ So God opened the sky up and welcomed him back ♪ ♪ With the keys to a little red Pontiac ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ likes fast cars ♪ ♪ Pedal to the metal because he's Lord ♪ ♪ Never had a whip that didn't have two doors ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ likes fast cars ♪ And this is a solo I had to do sitting beside Tommy Emmanuel a couple of weeks ago.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Now he's blasting through space in a blaze of smoke ♪ ♪ Peeling rubber through the stars with a manual choke ♪ [ Chuckles ] "With Emmanuel choke."

♪ And he's got Judas Priest on the radio ♪ ♪ With a little hint of humor in his eyes ♪ ♪ Turns the oceans to wine on a planet out there ♪ ♪ Gets the animals drunk, doesn't care ♪ ♪ Every once in a while, he remembers back here ♪ ♪ Where he first got the longing to drive ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ likes fast cars ♪ ♪ Magical hooch and loud cigars ♪ ♪ He ain't never had a whip that didn't have two doors ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ likes fast cars ♪ ♪♪ [ Chuckles ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Chuckles ] In an interview, when you talked about the fundraiser around your album, one thing you mentioned is, is just the number of people who supported that, you feel like maybe it was a sign of how many people feel kind of estranged from the culture of country music, and I think that comes across in a lot of your music.

This may be tension between the genre of country and maybe the historic roots of country in working class music, and where your music may run up against kind of the current culture of country music.

How do you feel your music fits in the larger context of country music in 2023 or 2024?

I mean, in the history of the tradition, I feel really connected to it.

I feel, um...

This sounds arrogant maybe, but I feel...

I feel competent to hold the tensions of honoring the people who are my heroes and all the problematic things about them that made this world so difficult and complex to navigate for people different than them.

And I don't think that a lot of folks are occupying that space or even trying to, but it means a lot to me that I got to play the Grand Ole Opry, that I got to dedicate a song to Marsha P. Johnson on that stage, you know?

Nobody's... [ Sighs ] I have no idea if country music ever was or ever will be a reflection of the institutions that decide where the money comes and goes.

I think they're two different things, and I have a really personal and intimate relationship with country music as a tradition, in the same way that I do with Christianity.

You know, it's something that's, like -- It's poured out on the dirt.

It's here.

I grew up in it, you know?

I grew up in these stories.

This is the soundtrack to my experience here.

And so, I think there's something about being able to use the vehicle of that tradition to take up space in a way that I have been, and so many of us are afraid or intimidated to, you know, out of fear of rejection, or especially worse, out of fear of real harm and cruelty.

This is a song called "For Judas".

[ Guitar music playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Me and Judas down on 6th and Lowry ♪ ♪ Outside a café when the moonlight fell ♪ ♪ It cast itself down, pouring out on the city ♪ ♪ What a pity when something so beautiful wastes itself ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I took a pull from my wood pipe ♪ ♪ As the taxicabs drove by ♪ ♪ Full of college age women in drag ♪ ♪ Yeah, they're all wearing costumes ♪ ♪ And they all look like children ♪ ♪ And they're blowing us kisses as they pass ♪ ♪ I wondered what in the hell in this world could compel ♪ ♪ Any creature to smile on a pair like we were ♪ ♪ He had short, neat curls that were shadow black ♪ ♪ And I was fumblin' around with the weather app ♪ ♪ Wondering if he could ever love me back ♪ ♪ Sometimes these things are hit or miss ♪ ♪ With the perfume trails lingering behind ♪ ♪ I caught an urge and the nerve to take his hand in mine ♪ ♪ And if it didn't rain at the perfect time ♪ ♪ It's probable we wouldn't have kissed ♪ ♪ In the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District ♪ ♪ He whispered, "I'm not the kind to lie about leaving" ♪ ♪ With me clinging so tight to his chest ♪ ♪ In a notebook on the rough-hewn walnut stand by his mattress ♪ ♪ I had drawn ultimatums out in a cursive mess ♪ ♪ And then I never told anyone, kept it quiet ♪ ♪ Inspired by the urgency of the love we shared ♪ ♪ Some of our friends say I'm still alive in it ♪ ♪ And others don't believe I was ever really anywhere ♪ ♪ I gave my body and blood for the power of love ♪ ♪ And hoped that I would conquer sin ♪ ♪ But I never even rose again ♪ ♪ He had short, neat curls that were shadow black ♪ ♪ And I was fumblin' around with the weather app ♪ ♪ Wondering if he could ever love me back ♪ ♪ Sometimes these things are hit or miss ♪ ♪ With the perfume trails lingering behind ♪ ♪ I caught an urge and the nerve to take his hand in mine ♪ ♪ And if it didn't rain at the perfect time ♪ ♪ It's probable we wouldn't have kissed ♪ ♪ In the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Then in the light of a wasteful moon, too familiar ♪ ♪ He sold me out for some pieces of silver ♪ ♪ But still I love the feel of your lips ♪ ♪ And I never wanted more than this ♪ ♪ To kiss you in public ♪ ♪ To openly say that I loved it ♪ ♪ Oh, I write this down for Judas ♪ ♪ Oh, all of this was for Judas ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ [ Chuckles ] [ Applause ] Can you talk a little bit about the story behind your song "Heritage of Arrogance"?

Oh.

Yes.

I...

It makes me anxious to talk about this song because I don't want to seem like I'm being too critical of myself or of someone else who might really care about this song, because I love it and I love what I tried to do, but in some ways, I feel like I missed the mark with it, you know?

This, for me, was an effort to distill the experience, the very disruptive experience of uncovering a history of racial aggression and trying to communicate what that was like at various stages of the process for me, and the end result, which was like, "This is why I believe that this matters."

You know, I believe that the onus is on white people to make restorative justice for the wrongs that have been done.

I think that it's imperative, and I think that it's suffocating our nation that we're not choosing to prioritize this.

What I was trying to do was get people to have that shared sense of responsibility, but I think it comes across as really preachy, and I didn't mean for that to be the case.

I got really frustrated.

I got a review from this online music blog, where this guy from Texas who -- just not the sound, you know -- accused me of conjuring these images as metaphors of a fictitious South, you know?

He -- He -- He, I think stops just shy of calling me a carpetbagger, like I'm not seven generations deep in these hills.

Thomas Fite is the name of the street that I grew up on in Belmont, North Carolina.

That's the street that I lived on.

That's where I saw the Confederate flags waving from the neighbors' flagpoles.

It was in that house, driving through Charlotte, that I saw the Klan assembled.

This song is a collection of memories and snapshots of me trying to understand and trying to reckon with racial violence and reckon with the way those portraits were framed for me, that impacted my ability to understand them and the greater narrative.

I wanted to create a pathway for someone who might not be able to understand, to feel like, "Well, I seen all that stuff too."

You know what I mean?

'I never really thought about what it could mean outside of what I was told it meant, but this made me realize that I could."

That was it to me.

And I think the hardest thing is trying to decide, like, where that line is of how much consideration you have to give to people's refusal to understand, you know, and at the end of the day, you know, when it comes to conflict resolution, there are no real ethical standards or rules besides "Do you want the conflict over right or not?"

Right.

And so ultimately, it just comes down to that one didn't land where I wanted, and that makes me feel a little sour sometimes.

[ Guitar music playing ] This is the one that mattered a lot to me, and I spent, I don't know, probably years in my life really trying to nail it down.

You know, I talked about stories and history of racial violence in America.

It's one of those stories that I kind of got dropped into, and once I was made privy to it, what they call being a newly woke white.

It was a very disruptive experience, and I wanted to find a way to put that in a song, and I think in some ways, I probably missed the mark a little bit.

But this is a testimony of my life and my relationship with racial violence as a kid up until a few years ago, when I became really passionate about racial justice, and I think that it's true that regardless of how you feel about these things, that it is a story that's been playing out for a lot longer than we've been here, and our role and the role that we have to play in that, we get to choose, but the lives that we've lived and the people we come from inform what responsibility we hold in the story.

I believe that's important.

I could be wrong.

I'm probably wrong about a lot, but I am by definition undisciplined in my craft.

[ Laughter ] [ Guitar music playing ] ♪♪ ♪ Well, I grew up on Thomas Fite ♪ ♪ It was lined with rebel flags ♪ ♪ Mom and Dad tried to teach me wrong from right ♪ ♪ But their compasses were bad ♪ ♪ I saw the Klan once with a child's eyes down the street ♪ ♪ Where I would play ♪ ♪ And angry Black people on the other side of the road ♪ ♪ With clenched fists raised ♪ ♪ Two sides of a coin, the Klan and the APC ♪ ♪ That's the kind of nonsense our daddies said to you and me ♪ ♪ But I've been listening ♪ ♪ Trying to keep myself from dismissing ♪ ♪ Perspectives that I struggle to relate with ♪ ♪ And I've been learning our true history and I hate it ♪ ♪ Two sides of a coin implies there ain't no better side ♪ ♪ It says racism and justice are equally justified ♪ ♪ And I know I never asked to be born white ♪ ♪ Was not taught the world was so god-dang unjust ♪ ♪ But it's on us to make it right ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Well, I got saved at the Baptist Church ♪ ♪ When I said the sinner's prayer ♪ ♪ Came to service with Mama and they's only white people there ♪ ♪ I saw Rodney King on the TV screen ♪ ♪ Turn slowly into Trayvon ♪ ♪ I heard my parents make excuses ♪ ♪ For the man who fired the gun ♪ ♪ Two sides of a coin, Jesus Christ and white supremacy ♪ ♪ Looking back, it don't make any sense to me ♪ ♪ But I've been listening ♪ ♪ Trying to keep myself from dismissing ♪ ♪ Perspectives that I struggle to relate with ♪ ♪ And I've been learning our true history and I hate it ♪ ♪ I mean, I never worked the auction block ♪ ♪ Or joined the Christian Knights ♪ ♪ Never called someone a racial epithet at a traffic light ♪ ♪ I know I never asked to be born white ♪ ♪ Wasn't taught the world was so wholly unjust ♪ ♪ But it's on us to make it right ♪ ♪ Our inheritance is a heritage ♪ ♪ Of arrogance and unchecked oppression ♪ ♪ We can dismantle this ♪ ♪ If you will stand with us, siblings ♪ ♪ Our daddies never understood this lesson ♪ ♪ And I swear that I don't mean that as a slight ♪ ♪ They weren't taught the world was so wholly unjust ♪ ♪ But it's on us to make it right ♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] [ Cheers and applause ] I wonder that relationship with that song.

You know, I think something that folks may not realize, that they see you perform here or just one night on the road, is, you know, you write an album and you live with that album for a long time.

You rehearse those songs, you perform those songs, you watch people react to your songs night after night after night, often in vastly different places and with probably different people in the audience as well.

How does your relationship with your own music -- how does that change over time, and does the relationship that audiences have with your music change your own relationship with it as well?

That's a good question.

I mean, it is complicated, I will say.

We funded that record and recorded it.

That would have been December of 2021.

So, it was recorded then.

Yeah.

So, then, for a whole year, we sat on it, and yeah, I think by the time that album came out, with all the drag bill stuff going on and everything, I did not want to reach out and touch anybody.

Yeah.

You know?

I was getting called... online all the time.

You know, people were calling me groomer because I had fingernail polish on in my videos.

Right.

It's like, "Just hurry up and get out of the world," you know?

You know, it's like all that care felt really dried up by the time the record came out, and so much had been put into making it something accessible that it didn't make it really difficult to navigate.

[ Guitar music playing ] ♪ This is my attempt at writing a song ♪ ♪ that would be the theme song for a Wes Anderson movie ♪ ♪ that Danny McBride stars in as a 12-year-old genderqueer.

♪ ♪ Danny Pudi, I think is the love interest, ♪ ♪ but I haven't ironed it all out yet.

♪ ♪ Wes can have a say.

♪ ♪ You got pretty hair ♪ ♪ And I don't care what the neighbors call you ♪ ♪ They don't know a dang thing about loving anyway ♪ ♪ And me?

I'm not a cool kid ♪ ♪ I'm not a grade A or a drop-out-of-school kid ♪ ♪ But I got a dirt bike and a mineral tool kit ♪ ♪ If you wanna look for gems today ♪ ♪ We don't have to mess around with names ♪ ♪ You and me are more of just the same sad story ♪ ♪ Hop up on my dirt bike ♪ ♪ I got a little place where we can ride ♪ ♪ Off dirt ramps if you wanna ♪ ♪ Already got an alibi for your mama ♪ ♪ And you can tell me anything you like ♪ ♪ Out there in the woods on my dirt bike ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ You've got a righteous bike ♪ ♪ And I might like to sit behind you ♪ ♪ And ride where the spirits guide to ♪ ♪ Follow the forest sprites ♪ ♪ And me, I only want to be happy ♪ ♪ I've got a drum set and I'm rhythmically savvy ♪ ♪ And I think we'll be real good friends if you'll have me ♪ ♪ Out on another ride ♪ ♪ Baby, can you make it go vroom vroom?

♪ ♪ Only if wanna be the big spoon ♪ I like imagining the person that's riding on the back of the bike as the big spoon.

[ Laughter ] ♪ Hop up on my dirt bike ♪ ♪ I got a little place where we can ride ♪ ♪ Dirt ramps if you wanna ♪ ♪ Already got an alibi from your mama ♪ ♪ You can tell me anything you like ♪ ♪ Out there in the woods on my dirt bike ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Vroom, vroom, baby ♪ ♪ Vroom, vroom, baby ♪ ♪ Vroom, vroom, baby ♪ ♪ Vroom, vroom, baby ♪ ♪ Hop up on my bike ♪ ♪ Hop up on my bike ♪ ♪ Hop up on my bike ♪ ♪ Hop up on my dirt bike ♪ ♪ Hop up on my bike ♪ ♪ Hop up on my bike ♪ ♪ Hop up on my bike ♪ ♪ Hop up on my dirt bike ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] [ Chuckles ] I also want you to talk a little bit about your song "Middle of a Heart".

Can you tell us a little bit about kind of the story behind that song as well?

I wrote it -- You know, a lot of the facts of the song are based on my friend Bob, who passed away a few years ago.

Bob was a funny guy.

He had a hospital bed in his living room, and he slept in this hospital bed with a loaded gun and "Fox News" on 24/7.

And I asked him one time how he would define his politics, and he said, "Oh, buddy, I guess a little to the right of Attila the Hun."

[ Chuckles ] Which is just an insane thing to say with his confidence.

I asked him one time what happened to his back, because he laid in this bed all the time.

I said, "What happened to your back?"

He said, "What do you mean?"

I said, "Well, you're in this hospital bed."

He said, "Ah, yeah, I just don't want to get up anymore."

What a guy.

Yeah.

It didn't take long for me to realize that Bob had chronic depression, You know?

And no tools for how to talk about that stuff.

I don't know.

It's a song that means a lot to me right now, actually.

I hated it for a little while, but I'm coming around on it in a big way.

I think I heard it the other night, and I heard this, like, really beautiful... ...ode to all the ways we can use tools that are supposed to bring us comfort and safety to harm ourselves in all these seemingly innocuous ways, the arsenal of therapy tools and coping mechanisms that become ways of self-destruction.

I just really -- It really resonated with me.

I don't know.

I heard the song in a new dimension and it made me like it again.

[ Guitar music playing ] ♪♪ ♪ Daddy's gonna buy me a brand-new gun ♪ ♪ Show me how to clean it in the yard ♪ ♪ Papaw says he can't wait to see me ♪ ♪ Fire with that steady arm ♪ ♪ A couple hours of waitin' and some heavy concentration ♪ ♪ Put a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪ Everybody's gonna be so glad to see ♪ ♪ The freezer full of fresh deer meat ♪ ♪ Mama's gonna be so proud of me ♪ ♪ When we get back to the farm ♪ ♪ Nights get longer ♪ ♪ Days get hard ♪ ♪ I learned to put a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪ I learned to put a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Carlene asked if she could marry me ♪ ♪ Drivin' 'round in Daddy's car ♪ ♪ I gave her my graduation ring ♪ ♪ Down by the lumber yard ♪ ♪ I felt the violent hit of her passionate kiss ♪ ♪ Like a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪ Everybody's gonna be so glad to see ♪ ♪ Her down the aisle at our wedding ♪ ♪ Mama's gonna be so proud of me ♪ ♪ Spinnin' around a steel guitar ♪ ♪ Nights get longer ♪ ♪ The days get hard ♪ ♪ It hits like a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪ Yeah, it hits like a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Well, my daddy paid his service 'til his time was due ♪ ♪ His buddy recruits these days ♪ ♪ Says I can make my country proud ♪ ♪ And get my education paid ♪ ♪ Face them fears, make it three years ♪ ♪ And, brother, you'll have it made ♪ ♪ Everybody's gonna be so glad to see ♪ ♪ Me wearin' that robe with my degree ♪ ♪ Mama's gonna be so proud of me ♪ ♪ God bless the USA ♪ ♪ Nights get longer ♪ ♪ Days stay hard ♪ ♪ 'Cause I learned to put a bullet ♪ ♪ Through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I didn't have a grudge to bear ♪ ♪ To any of the people there ♪ ♪ But I came home haunted ♪ ♪ By the lives my duty cost ♪ ♪ I felt the barrel's tip against my ribs ♪ ♪ Put a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪ Everybody's gonna be so glad to see ♪ ♪ The flag disappear into the earth with me ♪ ♪ Mama, do you think you still believe ♪ ♪ I'm gonna see the face of God?

♪ [ Sighs ] ♪ Nights gets longer ♪ ♪ The light goes dark ♪ ♪ I've learned to put a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪ I've learned to put a bullet through the middle of a heart ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Sniffles ] [ Applause ] Got a couple more for you, if that's okay.

Do you feel up for that?

Man: Yeah.

[ Applause ] Adeem: I'm going to grab this banjo, but I don't really know how to play the banjo.

They'll sell these to just anybody.

[ Laughter ] You don't even need a license or anything.

In Tennessee, You just walk into a store and say, "I want a banjo," and they just -- Well, it was expensive.

Ooh!

[ Sighs ] It's good to be back with you after that brief... [ Laughter ] [ Banjo music playing ] I had an album that I wrote and recorded during the lockdowns of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and it was called "Cast Iron Pansexual".

[ Man laughs ] [ Chuckles ] Thanks.

Um... And I was listening to a lot of Joe Troop, who's an Appalachian picker from the Piedmont Mountains.

I was listening to a lot of Blind Boy Fuller and Jimmie Rodgers and a lot of early country and folk music, and I was trying to find a way to root into the sounds and traditions of my youth that had brought me a deal of shame and find a way to make them mine and make them holy in some way.

Alright.

This is called "Cast Iron Pansexual".

It's my attempt at a protest song from a couple years ago.

[ Banjo music playing ] ♪ Well, take me down to Carolina ♪ ♪ I need a mountaineer ♪ ♪ Got seasoning in the cast iron ♪ ♪ And some color in my hair ♪ ♪ And I can fall in love with anybody if I dare ♪ ♪ I'm an interdimensional pansexual ♪ ♪ And I don't need repair ♪ ♪ Take me down to Carolina ♪ ♪ I need my tarot read ♪ ♪ Got a stomach full of barbecue and existential dread ♪ ♪ It's hard to keep your thinker in your gut equally fed ♪ ♪ I'm a Marxist, marching on oligarchs ♪ ♪ And a connoisseur of cornbread ♪ I love cornbread!

I've been reading gender theory and attending demonstrations, and I've watched my people nearing class emancipation.

Hoo!

♪ Take me down to Carolina on a cardinal's wings ♪ ♪ Got Guthrie in my gullet, Lord ♪ ♪ And a few new songs to sing ♪ ♪ They're opening a restaurant ♪ ♪ Where you don't pay anything ♪ ♪ Where the food's a-plenty and the friends are many ♪ ♪ Won't y'all come along with me?

♪ I've been doing candle magic, and reading Judith Butler, and while I'm no fanatic, I do believe that what we need is radical movement towards equity and justice to dismantle white supremacy entirely, brick by brick, by hand, together, and I firmly believe it's the only way.

Well, Adeem, thank you so much for joining us.

We're happy to have you on the show tonight.

Welcome to Iowa.

Hope to have you back again in the future.

Oh, I'm so honored to be here with you.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah.

Thanks again.

You sure you don't want to talk for, like, another 30 minutes?

[ Laughs ] I want to play you a song off my first record, "Cast Iron Pansexual", and I want to tell you, my father named me Kyle.

That's my government name, is Kyle Bingham.

My father named me after the NASCAR driver Kyle Petty.

So, if you're wondering what my southern bonafides are, my father named me after NASCAR driver Kyle Petty.

I was born with a Mountain Dew tattoo.

That's my... [ Laughter ] And if you don't know much about NASCAR, which I don't expect a whole lot of overlap with the PBS listening crowd, Kyle Petty is a songwriter.

He's actually a lovely songwriter.

He's very talented, but he wasn't exactly the greatest NASCAR driver.

I don't think that's telling tales out of school to say that, but his dad, however, is Richard Petty, maybe the best NASCAR driver ever.

Actually, Richard Petty is so good, his nickname in NASCAR is "The King".

So, my dad, with no sense of irony about himself, named me after the son of the greatest NASCAR driver.

[ Laughter ] I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

[ Laughter ] This is a song I wrote about trying to reconnect to the name Kyle.

It didn't work.

I'm still using Adeem, the name I found by way of God or magic, or my unconscious being bored with being, you know -- I was getting bruised knuckles from punching all that drywall.

I had to make a change.

So, that's a natural born Kyle joke, is what that is.

We'll go into the song now.

[ Guitar music playing ] Yeah, that's all good.

♪♪ ♪ I remember myself as a boy ♪ ♪ In the yard playin' cars ♪ ♪ I wore loose fitting clothes ♪ ♪ Still feel that obsolete joy ♪ ♪ When the weather got hotter ♪ ♪ We got out the water hose ♪ ♪ I wore my shirt in the pool back then ♪ ♪ I was afraid to be seen ♪ ♪ I've been trying to build a machine ♪ ♪ That can convert shame into celebration ♪ ♪ I'll go back in time and reclaim my name ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I remember when I was a teen ♪ ♪ Would just stand near the band with my hands near the sky ♪ ♪ Embarrassed of everything ♪ ♪ Lucky for love received from an invisible guy ♪ ♪ Stained by generational sin ♪ ♪ I did not deserve good things ♪ ♪ I've been trying to build a machine ♪ ♪ That can convert shame into celebration ♪ ♪ I'll go back in time and reclaim my name ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I've been collecting spare parts from old cars ♪ ♪ That are long since out of operation ♪ ♪ Scraps of old steel and frames of used wheels ♪ ♪ That grow tired of personification ♪ ♪ I'm trying to build a machine ♪ ♪ That can convert shame into celebration ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I remember when I was still Kyle ♪ ♪ All the kids called me "cow", even now I grind teeth ♪ ♪ Grandma said that I looked fat ♪ ♪ From her perch on the porch looking side eyed at me ♪ ♪ I wish I could visit that memory now ♪ ♪ And give them a set of the keys ♪ ♪ To a duct taped and makeshift machine ♪ ♪ That can convert shame into celebration ♪ ♪ We could dance to the music it sings out ♪ ♪ In a cacophonic orchestration ♪ ♪ I would go back in time and reclaim my name ♪ ♪ I would go back in time and reclaim my name ♪ ♪ I would go back in time and reclaim my name ♪ ♪♪ Thank you so much for coming out.

[ Cheers and applause ] It's been really lovely.

I appreciate you all.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Narrator: Funding for this program was provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation, as well as generations of families and friends who feel passionate about the programs they watch on Iowa PBS.