Adam Grayford

Flo-grown music comes from trained ear.

STORY: CYNTHIA MCFARLAND ≈ PHOTO: NICOLE HAMEL

usic was always Adam Grayford’s rst love. The Florida native feels fortunate to have made it his career.

Born in Eustis, Adam has lived in Lake County his entire life. He now calls Tavares home. Adam is the fourth in a family of ve children, all homeschooled. He admits he sees more value in this today than he did when it was happening.

“I don’t know how my mom did it,” he laughs.

Of all Raymond and Luisa Grayford’s children, Adam is the only one who is pursuing a music career.

“My dad was a graphic design artist, so I think my artistic side comes from him, just in a di erent form,” says Adam, 31.

“My goal was always to make a living as a musician,” he says. “I took lessons for a couple months just to get the basics, but that was when YouTube started taking o . I would go on YouTube, nd songs I wanted to play and learned a lot playing by ear.”

He played piano and harmonica but always came back to guitar–both acoustic and electric. Tom Petty was, and still is, his favorite artist.

Thanks to his involvement with 4-H, Adam participated in talent shows. His rst real performances were playing guitar for church at age 15.

“I look back at videos of me when I started playing and it’s cool how far I’ve come,” says Adam, stating that he has grown as a musician through many hours of practice and perseverance.

“What I love about this area is that all the musicians aren’t in it for competition. It’s very much a musical community and we’re supportive of each other. Jeff Whitfield has been a huge inspiration to me,” says Adam.

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