Adam Holmes is a Scottish BBC award-winning songwriter whose work has found a distinct and enduring place in the UK folk landscape.
His songs have been broadcast across BBC Radio and featured in television and film, including Outlander and Apple TV productions.
In recent years, his music has reached a global audience, drawing in a new generation of listeners while staying close to those who have followed his work over time.
Raised in Portobello, the second youngest of eight children, Holmes grew up surrounded by music. The slow airs and church hymns of his childhood continue to shape his melodic sensibility, alongside early exposure to Edinburgh’s folk scene and long nights listening and learning old fiddle tunes by ear.
At 19, on the same day he was offered an apprenticeship on the building site, Adam received a call confirming his place in the semi-finals of the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year. He chose music and has followed that path since.
In the years that followed he played a thousand times wherever he could. Small rooms, quiet corners and the kinds of spaces where a song either holds or it doesn’t.
He has shared stages with artists including Martin Simpson, Karine Polwart and John Prine and appeared on bills alongside Laura Marling, Van Morrison and Jason Isbell.
His work is defined by songs that reward attention. Songs that don’t always reveal themselves immediately but stay with people long after they’ve been heard.
That same approach extends into The Listening Room, a quiet online meet where he gathers with a small group of listeners for songs and stories in a stripped-back setting.
He lives in Edinburgh with his daughter, Rosa and his girlfriend Jen.