Adam Doleac wraps up headlining tour, ready for next stage as a songwriter and new husband

Hattiesburg's own Adam Doleac just wrapped up his first headlining tour and is ready to start thinking about getting started on another one.

"Going on a headlining tour — how exciting is that?" he said in a phone interview with the Hattiesburg American. "Usually you're the person who's warming up for the next band and now everybody's warming up for you. It was really great. I've been wanting to do a headline tour for it for a while. I wish I had done it sooner now that I've done it."

Headlining a concert tour has a lot of responsibility, too, Doleac said, so there's a bit of a challenge along with the excitement of going on tour.

"It is a little bit scary, he said. "When you're just opening the show and nobody shows up or whatever, it's not your fault. It's the headliner's fault. So when it's you and you put the shows on sale, it's it gets a little scary. But I'm happy to say that the tour went really, really well. And more people than we thought were going to show up showed up. It was great."

Doleac said he will continue to tour with other acts, and already has plans to go on the road with Old Dominion, but he is looking forward to getting his next headlining tour together.

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Music wasn't always in Doleac's career sights. As a student at the University of Southern Mississippi, he played baseball the year the Golden Eagles made their debut at the College World Series in Omaha. His baseball skills had him leaning toward a career that likely would have ended up in major league baseball.

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In addition, he is an experienced golfer who could have gone pro, his former baseball coach Scott Berry said in an earlier story.

Despite his promising athletic skills, Doleac decided to shift his focus to his other passion — music. He was writing songs that resonated with country music fans and performing at shows where fans couldn't get enough of him.

Doleac moved to Nashville, where he's been working to perfect his craft. He's had songs that have been certified gold and plenty that have generated millions of streams. Last September he released a full-length album, which is his pride and joy.

"I'm an album kind of person, so I like when artists release bodies of work as opposed to just one song at a time," he said. "It was cool to be able to do that and get 18 songs that fans could listen to front to back."

Doleac continues to make new music, releasing "Wrong Side of a Sunrise" in May. Later this week, he will debut his new single, "Biggest Fan."

"Wrong Side of a Sunrise" features a palm tree in Hawaii where newlywed Doleac took his new bride MacKinnon for their honeymoon in December.

"It's had probably one of the biggest reactions we've had, which has been awesome," he said. "I'm excited that it came out the day the tour ended. So I haven't really got to play it live."

Doleac said he is looking forward to playing both new songs live at CMA Fest in Nashville, which begins Thursday.

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After CMA Fest, Doleac will be out on the road touring again and getting back into songwriting — another talent in which Doleac excels.

Songwriting is highly competitive, he said. Not only does a song have to resonate with listeners, it has to send a message that is on one had the same thing everyone else is writing about and on the other hand unique enough to stand out above the crowd.

Even other artists have been enamored with Doleac's songwriting abilities. His songs have been recorded by Darius Rucker, Zane Brown, Gabby Barrett and others who are looking for that something special.

"Most of these are just me writing songs for me and then other artists hearing these songs and wanting them for themselves so they're not actually in the same room while I'm writing," Doleac said.

To learn more

To find out more about Adam Doleac, his music, tour dates or merchandise, visit adamdoleac.com.

Do you have a story to share? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.