Jim grew up in a small town in southeast Kansas, and while everyone else his age was listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Jim was listening to Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed and Son House. He started playing blues clubs at the advanced age of 13, and these legendary blues figures, along with artists like Sam and Dave and Wilson Pickett, became great influences on both his vocal and guitar style.

His family attended a small Baptist church, and Jim had the opportunity to merge these blues influences with gospel music, which draws strongly from the blues tradition. He led and performed gospel music and sang, along with his four brothers, in churches throughout the surrounding area.

Jim took a four year break from music while he served in the United States Marine Corps, but says "he still had the blues." After his military service, Jim and his family relocated to Southern California. There he picked up his guitar again and made his living as a musician, performing the blues throughout L.A. and Orange County. He also was in demand as a studio vocalist.

As a songwriter Jim has several film credits and a couple of songs cut by Edgar Winter. His credits include the film, "The Waterdance", which starred Wesley Snipes, Eric Stoltz and Helen Hunt, in which both his song and performance were used. Jim’s voice and guitar playing can also be heard throughout the critically acclaimed 2010 PBS Documentary “For Love of Liberty”.

Jim eventually moved with his family to Colorado Springs where he continues to perform and where he also runs Jimbo's Take 2, an outstanding blues and acoustic music club that has hosted such notables as John Hammond Jr., Chris Thomas King, Bob Margolin, Otis Taylor, and Eden Brent along with outstanding local and regional acts. "Big Jim" Adam is a prominent figure on the regional blues scene.

Jim's album, "Rock Island Line", a collection of traditional and original blues material, has charted on the Living Blues radio chart and the Roots Music Report and has been enthusiastically received by audiences.

The album, "Live at Jimbo's Take 2", is a high energy, live recording of the Jim Adam Blues Band. This is a group of gifted blues players that enjoy a special chemistry, they have a great time performing together and this is picked up immediately by the audience. Recorded at Jimbo's Take 2, Colorado Springs' "best blues venue", on two warm summer nights, some real blues magic was bottled, it's "down home funky style".

The newest CD, “Back In My Hometown”, features Jim and keyboardist John Stilwagen. Jim and John have won the Colorado Blues Societies selection for the International Blues Challenge (IBC) for both 2010 and 2011 and were sent to Memphis to represent them both years in the Solo/Duo Category. Quote from Chick Cavallero, CBS, "they filled the room with more energy and sound than any two guys should be able to pull off. Sitting tall in his chair, Big Jim accompanied his honeyed voice on guitar and two unique wood boxes under his feet that he stomped on to get a drum beat and even some tambourine rattling from. John Stilwagen rounded out their set with his impressive keyboard skills and a lot of humor. These guys are a class act you need to see and become familiar with!.:

Jim has opened for blues legend John Hammond Jr., Ruthie Foster, folk icon John Stewart, Chris Thomas King, Samuel James, Michael Johnson (“Bluer than Blue”) and Cajun rocker Zachary Richard, amongst others.

He is quickly being discovered by a national audience, and is looking forward to touring and meeting a larger audience in the year ahead. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.