Last-minute opportunity brings longtime friends Adam Hood and Dallas Dorsey Jr. together on hometown stage
BY MICHELLE KEY
PUBLISHER
AUBURN — For Adam Hood and Dallas Dorsey Jr., taking the stage at Neville Arena was about more than just playing another show; it was a homecoming decades in the making.
Both musicians trace important parts of their stories to Opelika, and their paths have been intertwined for roughly 20 years. On a recent Saturday night, those paths led them to one of the largest stages in Lee County when Hood was called on short notice to open for Ella Langley and brought Dorsey along.
Dorsey learned about the opportunity around 3:15 p.m. the day before the show when Hood sent him a text saying Langley’s manager needed an opener for Saturday night.
“I had a flood of different thoughts like joy, gratitude and even unbelief,” Dorsey said. “I prayed and thanked the Lord. My daughter, wife and I are Ella fans. My daughter sings all of her songs, and I thought it was a dream or something.”
Hood said the Auburn show came together after another artist withdrew from Langley’s tour. Her manager called to see whether Hood could make the date, prompting him to reschedule a Huntsville performance and head to Auburn.
For Hood, Neville Arena carried memories long before he ever stepped onto its stage as a performer.
He grew up during the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum era and remembers seeing performers including Clint Black and Wynonna Judd there in 1993, as well as Willie Nelson, Edwin McCain, the Allman Brothers Band and Alan Jackson.
“One thing that really stood out during our time on stage was remembering how huge everything was from the audience to the stage back then,” Hood said. “But from the stage to the audience, the world was much smaller. Faces are closer than you think.”
Being at home made that intimacy a good thing, he said.
“Some of those faces were familiar. More were supportive,” Hood said. “That was relaxing and reassuring.”
Dorsey experienced much the same feeling.
“I heard some people screaming our names as we walked up on stage, and I think they were surprised to see us,” he said. “It was awesome to be at home and performing for that many people in an Auburn University venue. It’s kind of what I dreamed of when I first started playing guitar.”
For Dorsey, he said the night became even more memorable because his family was there to experience it with him.
“What stood out to me was the excitement and pure joy of my daughter meeting Ella Langley,” he said. “My wife, son and mother-in-law were all there with me also, and it just made the night really special.”
Dorsey said he and his family had been rooting for Langley and were excited about her success. He noted that Langley sang on Hood’s recording of “Buzzes Like Neon” and has performed Hood’s song “Way Too Long.”
The connection among the musicians reflects something Hood said he believes is important to Alabama’s music scene — artists supporting one another as their careers develop.
“Riley and Ella are two artists from Alabama that came to see me play years ago,” Hood said. “Both opened shows for me. I’ve written several songs with both as well.”
According to Hood, Riley Green and Langley are among country music’s most prominent artists right now, making the invitations Hood receives from them particularly meaningful.
“The fact that I cross Riley’s mind and Ella’s mind at all right now is reason enough to be beyond grateful,” Hood said.
A relationship built on music
The relationship between Hood and Dorsey began long before Neville Arena.
Hood said he remembers first hearing Dorsey perform during the Colgate Country Showdown at Jackie Lee’s Karaoke Bar near the Interstate 85 and U.S. Highway 280 interchange in Opelika.
Hood said he had been asked to serve as one of the judges.
Dorsey immediately stood out.
He was the only contestant who performed an original song, Hood said, and the only one who played guitar. The karaoke equipment did not even have an input for the instrument, requiring someone to hold a microphone in front of Dorsey’s guitar while he sang into another.
He ultimately finished second.
“I was all too familiar with the hill he was climbing,” Hood said.
Dorsey went on to spend several years on the road with Hood, traveling throughout Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana.
He has filled numerous roles along the way.
“Dallas has gone a long way for a long time with me,” Hood said. “He’s worn several hats playing bass, electric guitar and acoustic guitar in my band. He’s helped with merch. He’s opened shows. He’s scheduled interviews.”
Because Hood’s touring schedule means he rarely plays in the Auburn area, he said seeing the local reaction to Dorsey at Neville Arena was particularly meaningful.
“He works his tail off in the music community, and I could see several folks glad to see him on stage,” Hood said. “That says a lot.”
Dorsey said he gives Hood considerable credit for his own development as a musician.
“It’s hard to describe my own path without mentioning Adam,” Dorsey said. “He really generously provided a lot of opportunities to write, play, sing and perform.”
Dorsey said Hood encouraged him to write and introduced him to other songwriters.
“He’s a good listener, and he writes from the heart,” Dorsey said. “His songs are relatable.”
Music shaped at home
Dorsey’s love of music began with his family.
He said his father introduced him to artists including The Cars, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Huey Lewis & The News and The Allman Brothers Band, while his grandparents and friends exposed him to country music.
His grandfather also played guitar.
“I grew up around a lot of guitar playing and singing from my grandparents,” Dorsey said. The result, he said, is “kind of a blend of all things Southern.”
Hood’s own musical ambitions were shaped early by songwriting.
He recalls hearing John Hiatt’s album “Bring the Family” on a cassette his mother owned and realizing that a songwriter could create a body of work powerful enough that other established artists would want to record those songs themselves.
“That’s the bullseye I’ve been aiming for ever since,” Hood said.
While his career has taken him far beyond Alabama, Hood said he made a deliberate decision years ago to keep the state at the center of his life.
When he and his wife married, they chose to remain in Alabama rather than relocate to Nashville or Austin.
That decision, Hood acknowledged, has cost him professional opportunities.
But it has also kept him close to his family.
“I want to be a good daddy way more than I want to be a famous country singer,” Hood said. “There has never been a moment in that 14 years that I’ve felt one ounce of regret for it.”
Dorsey shares that sense of attachment to home.
“I’m always proud to say I am from Opelika, and it was an absolute honor to be in Neville with Adam with us both being from here,” Dorsey said. “I love Auburn and all of Lee County, but Opelika has my heart and always will.”
‘Just get into it’
Hood said he believes community is one reason Alabama continues producing musicians and songwriters.
He pointed to the way artists at different stages of their careers support one another — whether that means opening shows, writing together or offering opportunities when someone else is beginning to gain a foothold.
“When no one was aware of Ella, she opened shows for me,” Hood said. “The same with Riley. Now the world is aware, and they call me from time to time.”
His advice to young Opelika musicians hoping to follow a similar path is uncomplicated: start.
“A long time ago, someone gave me a really generic piece of great advice — ‘just get into it,’” Hood said. “That still resonates.”
Learn a song. Play it for people. Learn another. Write one of your own. Watch how people respond and keep going, he said.
“If they wince, try again. If they light up, try again,” Hood said. “Just do it and try to have as much fun as you possibly can.”
Hood said that sense of enjoyment remains at the heart of music.
“There’s an untouchable magic in music,” he said. “It transcends everything. You’ll never find the formula for that magic, but if you just make the music, the magic will find you.”
What comes next
Both musicians are continuing to write and record.
Dorsey said he is helping First Methodist youth pastor Rick Lane record his first album at Lucky Man Studios at Auburn University. He is also writing and recording demos of his own material with his band, The Yellowhammers.
“I am excited and hopeful for the future,” Dorsey said.
Hood is working on a collaborative album being produced by Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three. The project revisits songs Hood wrote with other artists who later recorded them, bringing those artists back to sing the songs with him.
He said the project includes tracks involving Riley Green, Drake White, Miranda Lambert, Cody Jinks and Randy Rogers, among others. No release date has been announced.
For all of the miles, shows and songs that have come between Hood’s early days in Opelika and the present, however, there was something uniquely meaningful about looking out into the crowd at Neville Arena.
When asked what it meant to perform so close to where his story began, Hood’s answer was brief.
“It meant everything.”
