Adam Kiesling started playing bass as a freshman in high school, and would hit as many of the local bluegrass jams in southeastern Wisconsin as he could. After moving to Minneapolis in the early 90s, he started playing guitar and soon fell under the sway of musicians like Norman Blake, Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, and the Reverend Gary Davis. In 2002 Adam joined the Twin Cities-based clogging group, The Wild Goose Chase Cloggers, as their guitar player, and really started playing old time string band music in earnest. Adam spent about eight years with the Cloggers, and was able to go with them to international dance festivals in England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Latvia. Adam also spent some time as the bass player for Pert Near Sandstone, a high energy string band based in Minneapolis, and traveled around the U.S. with them, playing at many festivals and clubs.
In 2012, Adam released a solo CD, “Unclouded Day,” on Arabica Records. Featuring some of Adam’s favorite old-time tunes and songs, the recording includes some other Twin Cities musicians like Dakota Dave Hull, Meghan Dudle, Liz Draper, Gary Powell, Colin Harris and Eric Lind. In November of 2018, Adam released another CD entitled “BNJO & GTR” which consists of solo tunes and songs on the banjo and guitar.
Adam currently spends most of his time playing guitar and banjo with a trio called Corpse Reviver. Formed in 2010, Corpse Reviver mostly focuses on the music found on Harry Smith’s “Anthology of American Folk Music.”