Chris Adams

"Chris plays with great feeling and connects well with deep emotions which is very rare these days." — Uli Jon Roth, legendary guitarist

Some artists spend their careers chasing recognition. Chris Adams has spent his chasing something more elusive — the feeling that cannot be put into words.

That pursuit began early. Growing up in High Wycombe, a small town twenty miles west of London, the young Chris Adams found language inadequate. Dyslexic and restless in the classroom, he discovered that music said everything English could not. Where words failed him, guitar spoke fluently. It still does.

His godfather was Roger Newell, bassist for Rick Wakeman. By the age of eight, Chris was sitting in on rehearsals and gigs, absorbing the world of professional music from the inside. He got to play drums with The Who at Wakeman's studios. He was twelve when he switched to guitar — and never looked back.

His secondary school music teacher told him he had "a cat's chance in Hell."

He left school in 1980 with an award for outstanding achievement in music.

The Making of a Guitarist After school, Chris worked at Boilerhouse Studios in High Wycombe, where he was involved in recording some of the UK's most significant artists — among them Howard Jones and The Sex Pistols. He became close friends with Wal, the craftsman behind the legendary Wal Bass Guitar — instruments played by Roger Newell, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins and many others. Throughout the 1980s, Chris played alongside some of the finest musicians in British rock.

These were not peripheral encounters. They were an education.

The influences absorbed during those years — Page, Hendrix, Gilmour, Vai — did not produce imitation. They produced something entirely his own. Critics have reached for comparisons and found them inadequate:

"Phil Keaggy is an amazing guitarist. After three decades in harness, he still retains the ability to play incredible music in almost every conceivable style, from classical to heavy metal. Until now, I have never come across anyone capable of emulating the maestro. But, having heard this album, I am prepared to stick my neck out and suggest that Chris Adams could well be the man to take on the mantle." — Chris Tozer, Cross Rhythms Magazine

"Chris Adams is perhaps the best guitarist to come out of the UK." — Phil Penny, Radio Trent

The Music Since 1997, Chris Adams has released over twenty-four albums — a body of work that spans classical guitar, rock, blues, ambient and cinematic instrumental music. His compositions have been placed on television. His track Canon Rock has accumulated over 65 million plays on TikTok. His catalogue of over 170 original works is registered with PRS, PPL and MCPS and distributed across more than 100 countries.

He is a multi-instrumentalist — guitar, bass, drums, keyboards — but guitar is where he lives. From Pachelbel to Hendrix, from the Highlands to the open sea, his music carries the weight of everything he has seen and felt and could not say any other way.

Now based in the Scottish Highlands, Chris continues to write, record and perform. He works in partnership with XpoNorth and has been well received at Belladrum Festival. His latest release — Fly feat. Nick Drake: Vocal Chronology — The Best of Chris Adams — is out on 5 June 2026.

He has been overlooked. He has been underestimated. He has kept going anyway.

"Moving from one failure to another without losing enthusiasm" is how he describes it.

That is not failure. That is the definition of an artist.

Discography - Back to Jerusalem — 1999 - One Solitary Chair — 2000 - In Through the Soundhole — 2001 - On the Rock — 2002 - Streams from Bethel — 2002 - Out of the Silence — 2002 - So Far — 2003 (re-released on CD, Tree Records 2008) - Variations on a Theme: Salvation — 2003 - Classics — 2003 (EP, re-released FHG Music 2005) - Variations on a Theme: Classical Meditation — 2003 - Sozo — 2003 (re-released on CD, Tree Records 2008 & 2010) - With Words of Life: Prophetic Rock from the Temple — 2004 - Requiem for a Mountain — 2004 - House of Dreams — 2004 (re-released as Chris Adams 2007 & 2011) - Under the Northern Lights — 2008 (re-released on CD, Tree Records 2008 & 2012) - Night at the Oasis — 2010 (re-released 2013) - Electrifiers — 2011 (also released on Tree Records) - Intimacy — 2012 - All the Shiny People — 2014 (re-released 2015) - Beyond All Reasonable Doubt — 2015 - Otherside of the Sky — 2016 - Chronology — 2017 - Angels Share — 2019 - Merchants of Tarshish - Fly feat. Nick Drake: Vocal Chronology — The Best of Chris Adams — 2026 All albums available on all major digital platforms and as physical CDs from chrisadams.tv