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Adam Marshall 

Adam Marshall sings...

Come Home as Fast as You Can
Lyrics by Adam Marshall and Music by Kevin McCarthy
Copyright 2005

"... Come Home As Fast As You Can, his debut hit single off his first album. It’s a touching track that is about a mother writing a letter to her son or daughter who is away at war . . . not only heartfelt Patriotic lyrics, but emotional thoughts from a young man who has experienced war at first hand. In my opinion, Adam Marshall is a sizzling hot new country artist who will be around in the music industry for a long time to come...”
Paul Lawrence,
Burning Country

"... Come Home As Fast As You Can, one of the album's standout tracks . . . is a personal tale of one who waits back home for the return of a dearly beloved son fighting for the freedom of a nation. Adam Marshall not only talks the talk in the songs he sings – he's also walked the walk..."
Tammy Phillips
CountryReview.com

Adam Marshall's Biography (2006)

Breaking country artist and recent sensation as a top winner at Country Thunder USA’s “Young Guns” national finals  competition, ADAM MARSHALL had more than the usual challenges facing a young artist writing songs for his debut CD, The Last Marshall.

All of the nine songs that are today launching the 25 year old Oregon born singer towards his dreams of superstardom started life in a dug-out hole in the sands of Iraq—random words and hopeful hooks scrawled on a tattered notebook a young Marine kept strapped to his leg. 

Adam Marshall just a few short months ago was that young Marine who volunteered to be one of the first members of the U.S. military to hit ground in America’s most recent conflict to free Iraq.  Along with 55 of his fellow Marines, Adam, assigned to a heavy equipment operations unit, left the U.S. on January 3, 2003 to land twenty-eight miles south of the border of Iraq with a mission of building a base camp “Operation Snakepit” in the shifting sands of a desolate war torn landscape that surrounded them on all sides.

“I had a front seat that I will always remember—even if I wanted to forget,” he said in a recent interview.  “I told myself over there ‘God, if I make it out of here, I’ll never ask you for another thing!’  I wanted to get back home and live my dream of being a country singer, and I realized in Iraq that life is too short not to go for the dreams you really want.”

Now a little over a year since arriving back on U.S. soil, Adam Marshall is beginning to live that hard fought dream.   This spring, thousands of online voters in the nationwide talent search, “Young Guns,” sponsored by one of country music’s top live annual events, Country Thunder USA in Phoenix, unanimously named Adam a winner among the thousand of entries submitted.

The win put him onstage to open for artists of the caliber of Reba McEntire and Neal McCoy, and brought his original music to the attention of scores of new fans.  More importantly, the national spotlight fell on a new bred of young American hero.

Sgt. Adam Marshall with Brad Paisley on stage Being proud to be a Marine is part of legacy Adam Marshall rightfully inherited. His paternal grandfather had served proudly and filled his young grandson with the dedication and pride of service to his country that became guideposts to Adam’s growth as a young man determined to follow those footsteps.  He enlisted at 20, determined to temporary set aside his dreams of a career in country music to serve his country.

Shortly before being sent off to war, Adam had the opportunity of meeting one of his country idols, Brad Paisley.  During the long, sleepless nights at his post in Iraq, Adam reflected on the kindness and the encouragement to pursue his music that Paisley had imparted to him during their brief encounter.

Between Adam and his music now stood only the stress of staying alive and dodging enemies that were too often unseen.  “We were always watching our backs. Muzzle

 

flashes, Iraqis with hiddenweapons—there wasn’t a second you could drop your guard during the day.”

“At night I’d close my eyes—often just one eye—and imagine myself back home doing simple things that I’d taken for granted, like washing my truck.  I’d feel the cool water splash against my face, feel the sponge in my hand.  There was no place to hide physically, so you just learn to hide for a minute or two mentality to get through the night. 

I did a lot of my songwriting at night—just little fragments of thoughts here and there that I hoped I’d one day get back home to record.”

“Incoming gas attacks were one of the biggest threats.  It was a lot of stress as every 15 minutes or so the shout, “Gas!” would be heard and we’d have to get down and clear—or take the risk of being dead within 30 seconds. For the first 26 days we were in camp we were in plastic suits in 128 degree temperatures in the desert so mentality it really freaked a lot of guys out.”

After close to six months of active duty, Adam came home on May 26th, of 2003.  With him came the tattered notebook and scraps of paper that were to become the songs now being released on The Last Marshall.

With the money he had saved from his tour of active duty, Adam went into the studio back home in Portland. As the project was unfolding, country artist Jeff Bates came to the Northwest on a “Salute The Troops” event being sponsored by Portland radio powerhouse KWJJ.  As fate had already pre-destined, friends suggested Adam be included in the event to sing his song, “Come Home As Fast As You Can” for the soldiers being deployed.  Local television and radio made the handsome young ex-Marine the centerpoint of their coverage—and “the rest,” they will one day say in writing about Adam Marshall’s career—“is country music history.”

Fittingly, “Come Home As Fast As You Can,” is his debut single off his debut album.  “It’s a song that seems to know no time limits,” says Adam.  “Ladies have come up to me crying after they hear the song and say things like, ‘My brother was killed in Viet Nam.’  One older lady even came to tell me her brother was killed in World War II.  It’s a song that touches almost every American family somewhere down the line.”

As he wrote in the liner notes of The Last Marshall:  “I used to close my eyes and image being home with my family…the letters…the pictures…the memories…that’s what kept me going.  The love of family can be so inspirational.”

And about his brothers in America’s fighting forces still aboard...

“Our American soldiers are proud, brave, strong and united.  My work is a tribute to all those who have served and are currently serving in the Armed Forces today.  I’ve been there, I know what it’s like.  My heart goes out to you and your families and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for serving our proud nation.”

The young man who admits with a grin to being “the original Oregon cowboy,” and to getting a lump in his throat as the flag passes, also admits he regrets that the evening news often doesn’t portray the real news of the young heroes still fighting in the far off desert war a world away.  He would like to use any newly found success in country music to go back overseas to entertain the troops.

 Adam Marshall in Dress Blues Uniform with U.S. Marines Flag
Probably a dream closer than he thinks. There’s a nation out there that seems ready to embrace Adam Marshall as a new breed of young American hero.

Listen to Adam singing... Come Home as Fast as You Can | Clips to His Other Songs

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Visit Adam Marshall's site and order his debut CD, The Last Marshall.

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