Sheila Kay Adams is dedicated to keeping the traditions of mountain music alive. —Carole Currie, Asheville Citizen-Times
In the hands of a truly inspired ballad singer, the words to a ballad can be made every bit as riveting as the stories that we see in living color every night - perhaps more so. And Sheila Kay Adams is an inspired ballad singer. —Julie Henigan, Spectator Magazine
Sheila Kay Adams has a singing voice as pure and clear as a mountain stream, and she carries on a tradition of ballad singing handed down to her through seven generations. —Lynne Billings, Lifestyle Editor, Asheville Citizen-Time
Sheila has a tremendous command of the subtly dramatic. We’re not talking about obvious volume or tonal shadings here, but skills that draw you into a ballad so completely that you don’t notice that it’s ten minutes long!
—Gail Gillespie, Old-Time Herald
We’re all lucky that Sheila is willing to share her heritage with us, in song and story.
—Lee Smith, author of Fair and Tender Ladies, Independent, Raleigh, NC
Sheila Kay Adams is the real article - a storyteller in the true sense - someone whose words, whether in song or story, tell us about who she is and where she’s from. Her traditional ballads go hand in hand with her songs and stories of her own life, like they’re of the same cloth. They are. When Sheila does her work, I imagine the mountains breathe a little easier, knowing there’s someone out there speaking for them.
—Bill Harley, Songs & Stories for Everybody
Adams sings with intensity and profound feeling that are reflective of her deep passion for her cultural heritage and her family’s traditions.
—Reggie Johnson, Winston-Salem Chronicle
It’s my understanding that the women of Appalachian mountain communities have always been the primary custodians of ballad songs and Sheila is certainly taking her place in this long line of strong and gifted women.
—Port Townsend Jefferson County Leader
We can relate to Sheila’s performance in a deeply personal way, due to our kinship of small-town Southerness, and the importance of our heritage to us, and the humor we find in looking at ourselves.
—The Ruston Daily Leader
Her stories may be localized or carry you back to the thirteenth century, but their lessons, poignancy, and humor have no boundary, real or artificial.
—The Washington Post
Sheila Kay Adams identifies herself as a seventh-generation ballad singer....one can see that the tradition of music in Sheila’s family indeed goes back at least that far, probably farther. And an oral tradition that embodies family history between three and four hundred years old is in itself noteworthy.
—Hilary Dirlam, The Old-Time Herald