CLARKS SUMMIT — Adam Bailey, 23, of Scranton, entered the local music scene a little over a year ago, when he heard about Open Mic Nights at Duffy’s Coffee House from a friend at work. He started out playing mostly cover songs, and it was his friends and peers who encouraged him to start writing and performing his own music.

He released his first EP, titled “Step One,” last July, and is working on a second, which he hopes to release soon.

Describing the local arts and music scene, the young musician said, “I think that people take it for granted.

“If you go an hour in any direction, there are no open mics. There are very little advertisements for local bands. If you go to a different state, even a different city, like Philadelphia or Chicago, or Pittsburgh, those places don’t support local talent – they don’t support local music as much as they do in Scranton. …There is always something to do, every single weekend. There’s always a local band playing at a bar, there’s always some kind of an open mic that you can go to.”

But the best thing about it, he said, is the positive attitude people have toward one another.

“There’s very little, if any judgment,” he said. “If you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned pro, everyone’s welcome and everyone’s very welcoming.”

Bailey said people sometimes describe his own musical style as a “discount Ed Sheeran.”

He enjoys using a looping pedal with both guitar and vocals, beatboxing to create his own percussion sounds. He first uses the pedal to record himself beatboxing, then plays or “loops” that track in the background, while playing the guitar over that.

“That’s kind of the one thing people know me by,” he said.

One of his major influences as a musician is a band he first encountered on YouTube, called Boyce Avenue.

“They (Boyce Avenue) would perform Lady Gaga or 2Pac and they would play it on guitar and in…a singer/songwriter acoustic style,” he said. “And that just got me so interested in trying to do that myself. So I started doing that, and that’s why the pedal works out so well.”

Bailey said a lot of his original material can be classified as “cheap teen love songs,” but his music is always evolving. After a recent breakup, his tunes began to take on a sadder tone, influenced by Damien Rice, who he explained sings of “heartbreak, sorrow and finding love.”

“The more that you live your life, the more your music changes,” he said. “You’re always going to be constantly evolving as an artist.”

For more information about Bailey, and the latest evolutions in his music, visit facebook.com/AdamBaileyMusic.

Adam Bailey released his first EP, titled ‘Step One,’ last July, and is working on a second, which he hopes to release soon.
http://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_ABJ-Music-Spotlight-Adam-Bailey-1.jpg.optimal.jpgAdam Bailey released his first EP, titled ‘Step One,’ last July, and is working on a second, which he hopes to release soon. Submitted photo

By Elizabeth Baumeister

ebaumeister@timesleader.com

More info

From 7 to 10 p.m. every Wednesday, Duffy’s Coffee Co., 306 S. State St., Clarks Summit, hosts an Open Mic Night, featuring various local artists. The Open Mic Spotlight series tells the stories of some of these musicians, some of whom readers may have heard, and others whose work they have yet to experience.

Reach Elizabeth Baumeister at 570-704-3943 or on Twitter @AbingtonJournal.