Salome Songbird (Joy Adams of Big Richard and of Nathaniel Rateliff)

Multi-genre cellist Dr. Joy Adams grew up on a farm north of Spokane, Washington. Equally at home improvising over fiddle tunes or playing a concerto with orchestra, she is also a composer, songwriter, educator, and a prolific recording artist. Recent career highlights include touring with Nathaniel Rateliff, Darol Anger, performing on NPR’s Live From Here with Chris Thile, the Newport Folk Festival, Red Rocks, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, performing at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival with Bonnie Paine (of Elephant Revival), recording cello for the Emmy award winning soundtrack to Godless on Netflix, as well as on the Grammy and Emmy award winning soundtrack to The Queen's Gambit, the Grammy-nominated jazz album With Love by Jeremy Fox, and the recent albums Red Rocks 2020 (Nathaniel Rateliff), Live From the Swamp (Half Pelican), and This Long Stretch of Gravel (John Lowell).
Joy collects hats, both literally and musically, and has performed with Bruce Hornsby, Barry Manilow, Bobby McFerrin, Chic Corea, Kenny Loggins, Ben Folds, Gloria Estefan, George Benson, Terrence Blanchard, Dave Grusin, Edgar Meyer, Darol Anger, Joshua Bell, Renee Flemming, Kevin Morby, Ley Line, Katy Crutchfield (Waxahatchee), Take 6, Hillsong United, Jonsi & Alex (Sigur Ros), Nathaniel Rateliff and the Nightsweats, the Travelin’ McCourys, Ayla Nereo, Estelle, Jayme Stone, Mark O’Connor, Billy Strings, Sam Bush, Maria Schneider, Dawn Upshaw, and Cyrille Aimee, among others.
As a big fan of anything you can do in your pajamas, Joy is naturally at home in the recording studio, and is a sought-after session musician. She has recorded for Pharrell, George Benson, Gloria Estefan, Chic Corea, Nathaniel Rateliff, Terrence Blanchard, Desmond Child, Bobby McFerrin, Chris Boardman, Carlos Rivera, Mark O’Connor, Darol Anger, the Podd Brothers, and a growing list of singer-songwriters, electronic producers, film composers, video game scores, commercials, and sample libraries.