In this interview spotlight, I chat with Adam Ambrose about hardships, motivations, technology, rising above it all and, of course, his latest project Little Green Cabins.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I am from Calgary, Alberta which is a big city in western Canada. The style of music I create, most people would consider pop music, but I like to call it emotional music. I don’t really have any formal music training so I just do everything by feel, and create songs that match my emotion, which I think often end up coming out in a similar style as that of my favorite artists.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

I have always wanted to be a musician since I was young, but my family wasn’t always supportive of that. To be fair, I was terrible at singing for a very long time, but I didn’t really have support for a while. I really started to play when my life was at its worst. When my parents were yelling every night and my drug problems were bad, music was all I had.

I started by writing poems, and writing a lot of them. I’d write one every single day in high school and then after seeing Ed Sheeran in 2015, I started writing music. I quickly became a massive Ed fanboy, watching his interviews and getting to know him, finding out how similar we were. The struggles we’ve faced are similar, and honestly to see him inspire people with just his guitar and his words pushed me to try to do the same.

Because of him, I began writing songs which at first were terrible and I would sing them so loud that my entire house could hear me. I used to sit for hours in my parents’ stairwell writing and playing music until things got really bad. When things did get especially bad at home, I moved away because I was tired of the emotional abuse. I moved to a small town in Ontario with my girlfriend at the time. I thought things were going to get better there, but I learned soon that she really didn’t care for me the way that I thought she did.

Now I was alone in a small town where I barely knew anyone and I had a lot of things I was dealing with that had built up over the years. I was homeless, a drug addict, and I’d tried to end my life in the past; I have suffered the death of a friend, family abuse, and mental illness, which all gave me a lot to write about.

My music started as poetry, which then turned into me singing with a guitar I got from Value Village. It didn’t sound the best at first, but it sure did make me feel at home with myself. The first two songs on the EP that I wrote were “Ghost”, and “Relax,” both of which were kind of me talking to myself and telling myself that I was going to be okay and that these songs can hold how I feel.

I am motivated to continue making music because I want to keep telling my story, and I want to be able to help and inspire others that may be going through similar struggles to what I’ve experienced.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

This is my first big release so I don’t have anything to really compare it to. I was just trying to show the world who I was and I wanted to begin telling my story to help others not feel alone in their own pain.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

My biggest challenge is personal doubt and balance. I constantly end up doubting if people will like my music, and if I should even continue doing it. The issue of balance comes in when I am trying to balance a love life, family, friends, school and a music career so it can really be overwhelming. Technology has helped with this, as it takes away the sense of feeling alone because I can always get support from people when I am not around them. I am always able to call my dad when I need some advice or text my mom when I am feeling down.

What was the last song you listened to?

Dive – Ed Sheeran

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

MP3s

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

Spotify because I am just a little but lazy and like how easy it is to use.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or anywhere you can find music. Just search “Adam Ambrose Relax” and I will come up. You can also find me on social media as ‘Adam Ambrose’ on Facebook, and @adamambroseyo on Instagram/Twitter.

Anything else before we sign off?

Have a good one! 😊