Although he maintains a regular working schedule, Adams also tries not to overplan his musical life. “I actually really demand from myself a sort of inordinate amount of unstructured freedom,” he says. “I don’t want to know what I’m doing the next year or even the next week. I somehow have this feeling that to keep the spontaneity from my creative

Every time he works on his adventure novel, he plays the album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming by M83.fn15 And whenever he sits down to play trains with his younger son, he puts on Currents by Tame Impala. After a few songs, he’s in the zone. The music reminds his brain which routine to run.

A satisfying work life for a successful musician often includes concurrent start-up ventures. This is just one benefit to being a musician: the diversity of ways you can contribute to society.

In 1975 I began taking lessons on the violin.