Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie stopped by The Current and shared with host Jill Riley about staying true to his values as an artist, and about his upcoming album Livin in the USA.

Listen to the full interview in the player above, and find a complete transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: Hey, I'm Jill Riley of The Current, in the studio with Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie. Welcome back.

Adam Weiner: Oh so happy to be here. Hi, Jill.

Jill Riley: Hi.

Adam Weiner: What's up?

Jill Riley: It's nice to see you. You're about to release a new record, it's coming this summer. You're doing a solo tour, Low Cut Connie solo tour. We have a lot to talk about. So if you wouldn't mind, let's go back about a year, because it was about a year ago when you made the decision to cancel your appearance at the Kennedy Center. And from there, I think a chain of events happened.

Adam Weiner: Yeah, I had a show at the Kennedy Center, and it was supposed to be part of this thing called “The Social Impact Series,” which was a series that had to do with music that inspires positive social change. That was the headline to the whole thing.

Jill Riley: I would imagine you see something like that and go "sign me up."

Adam Weiner: It was a truly great honor, you know, for a funny rock and roll band, Low Cut Connie from South Philly, after a decade, to get asked to play at the Kennedy Center for this social impact series.

Jill Riley: That's a big deal.

Adam Weiner: It was pretty amazing. And I really felt like this was going to be kind of a highlight of a highlight of my career. To this point, we were really looking forward to it. And then, we all look at the news, we all see what's been happening, and he, who shall not be named, came out and said he was going to take over the Kennedy Center and change it. And I called my agent, and I said, cancel that gig. And there was a lot of discussion behind the scenes amongst my team and all different people saying, "should Adam cancel this gig? Is this is going to be bad?" And a lot of people said to me, no one else is canceling. It's just talk. And I said, it's not just talk, it's — this institution is going to suffer mightily, and it's going to happen quickly. I don't want to be a part of it. This social impact thing is going to get canceled. I don't want to do it, cancel the show. And that was just for myself, because I felt that the mission, the Social Impact mission, was gone. And when I saw that the gay men's choir had been cut from the schedule, I just saw where this thing was going, and I didn't want to do it, and I canceled. And Jill, oh, my God. It was just a snowball. I mean, it was international news. I mean, we were getting calls from BBC and China and Japan and France and Germany. I mean, all over. You know, I was the first artist to cancel my show. There were a bunch of other people later that day, the next day, then it started. But initially there were a lot of people being very supportive of my decision, but then out came the trolls, and a lot of hateful things were sent to me, my team, our website.

Jill Riley: And it was more than trolls. I mean, there were people who wanted to hurt you.

Adam Weiner: Yes, it took a couple months, but as the story continued to unfold, it turned into death threats, and it got scary, and I had to consult with security. And then we got a phone call, well, we got news that there was a big gig we were going to do in Pennsylvania at this big outdoor show, and the county voted to cancel my gig because they said that I my gig was propaganda, and they said that for the safety of the children of that county, that Low Cut Connie should not perform. Of course, in truly comical fashion, they replaced Low Cut Connie with an ACDC cover band, and the name of that band was Halfway to Hell. And the news —

Jill Riley: I hate to laugh, but it's so dumb.

Adam Weiner: And then the news came out that that ACDC cover band had a registered sex offender in the band. So for the safety of the children, they canceled my show and opted for this. It was a massive story, and unfortunately, as we can laugh, but it led to more threatening stuff towards me, my team, which is still happening now, but you got to do the right thing, Jill.

Jill Riley: And because what you were doing, you were making a decision based on your values as a person.

Adam Weiner: Yes, we all see what's going. You guys see it here in the Twin Cities every single day. It would be insane for me as an artist to get on stage with my music and act like people aren't stressed, angry, that their lives aren't being affected, that they're not scared, that they're not terrified, angry. You know, I feel like I have to speak to that. And I want to do it through my songs. I'm going to do it through my shows, through my statements. Even though I'm a little cult artist with my little fan base, I want them to feel like they resonate with what I'm saying and my songs. And I also want to make, give them some art that speaks to what they're feeling.

Jill Riley: With what's been going on in the past year, is that what led to the song "Livin in the USA," or did that song already exist?

Adam Weiner: First, years ago, I had written a song called "Living in England," and it was when I was on tour in England for nine weeks, and I was alone, and I felt totally homesick for America. And I wrote this "living in in England, and it's not my home" song, and I put it in a file, like I do with all these songs. A lot of songs take years to — they got to sit in the oven for a long time, and then with everything that's been going on and everything that I've seen, especially what I've seen with ICE on our streets in your community and all over the country, I edited the lyrics to the song to be "living in The USA, but it ain't my home," meaning this feels so disorienting, like it doesn't feel like the country I grew up in. It doesn't feel like the messaging of America that I grew up with, which had to do with community, diversity, inclusion and freedom of speech. And so I put a very sad piano version out last year, and again, it got me in trouble. A lot of people loved the song and played it and sent us beautiful messages, but it really pissed off a lot of people too.  And a bunch of people said to me, as I was getting death threats and things, just stop playing the song. You have so many songs, and a lot of your songs don't ruffle any feathers. Play your other songs, and you'll be fine, especially when you do these free concerts, which I do a lot of free concerts in the summer in red states, blue states, urban, rural. I mean, I just want to play for people. And people said to me, "well, when you play for a free crowd, a mixed crowd, don't play that song." And I said, I'm going to play that song. And then we recorded a pretty rocking version. Because I said, if I'm going to do it, let's do it loud.

Jill Riley: Talking with Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie on The Current. Livin in the USA your new record is coming out July 3. I think the timing of that is kind of great. Was that something you were thinking about?

Adam Weiner: One hundred percent. I want people to think about American values. I want people to think about, what they want America to look like. And I am patriotic. I believe in America and the American experiment, but it's an America that I was raised with that values diversity, that values inclusion, that doesn't oppress its people, that doesn't point military grade weapons at the citizens and the people who live here in this country. So I want to reclaim patriotism that weekend, especially because I live in Philadelphia, and in Philly that weekend, there's going to be all these USA 250 celebrations or events, and we're all terrified in Philadelphia of what's coming, because we are aware that there's going to be a lot of paramilitary presence in the city. The President is coming to the city. It's a whole thing. And Philly we, like you guys, we don't lay down. We do not lay down. We're tough cookies, just like you are here in Twin Cities. And I don't want it to be a sad, scary weekend. I want to give my fans something to party that weekend, actually have some barbecues and pool parties and celebrate and feel good about something. So that's part of why I'm releasing the album that weekend.

Jill Riley: Yeah, and there's a song, "Can't Be Wrong." You talk about reclaiming the word patriotism and what diversity and equity and inclusion, what those words really mean, but also reclaiming joy this year. Do you want to talk about that a little?

Adam Weiner: Got to reclaim joy. You know, 2025, we were all depressed. So many people went into hibernation, just feeling so depressed, defeated and just folded. But that was last year. This year is the year to get activated. I asked people on stage the other night at the Turf Club, “how you guys been feeling lately?” and the word that came up the most was angry. And I said it's good to be angry right now. It's justified. It means you care. It means you care about your neighbors, your community, your country, your kids, the future. You care, and that's why you're angry. Mister Rogers said, what do you do with the anger that you feel? What do with the mad that you feel? You gotta process it, right? And I grew up with Mister Rogers. We all grew up with Mister Rogers.

Jill Riley: I have a hard time talking about Mister Rogers, because I get really emotional.

Adam Weiner: Me too.

Jill Riley: I mean, do you punch a bag? Do you pound dough?

Adam Weiner: He talked to us as kids about, what do you do with anger? You got to process it. We all get angry. So we're all collectively angry. We can't act like that's not true. I just want to give people an outlet to try to find a way so that by this summer, we can get through anger to joy as well, right? We can have both things, you can protest during the day, and then you can have a pool party at night. I do not want us to lose our joy. The thing that's going to lead the way towards joy is art. See, the greatest gift that America has given the world is art, especially music. This country created jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country, Western, hip hop. We've changed the world with our music, and we've spread messages of love and freedom through music, that is America's gift to the world, and this is what I'm trying to amplify. We've got to as artists, use our art to try to change the narrative. Give people outlets for what they feel and in small, incremental ways, we can change the world and make it what we want it to be.

Jill Riley: Talking with Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie on The Current. Before I let you go, I wanted to recognize a couple milestones, that you do have a lot to celebrate this year. Twenty five years of being a professional musician?

Adam Weiner: A semi-professional musician. Twenty five years ago, I got my first real music gig, which was playing piano in a drag karaoke bar in New York. I was playing three nights a week in this bar. And even though I've had many other day jobs and I was a teacher for many years, I only quit my last teaching job about eleven years ago, when Low Cut Connie really took off. I have been playing music for people on stage now for twenty five years.

Jill Riley: That's incredible. It is.

Adam Weiner: So I got my one thousand hours, you know.

Jill Riley: And fifteen years of Low Cut Connie?

Adam Weiner: This is the fifteenth year of Low Cut Connie. Ten years in, I started this thing called Low Cut Connie, and I didn't expect it to take off. I didn't expect anything to ever happen with it. We thought it was just going to be for our friends, a little funny, cool, little side project. So to be here fifteen years later, doing this full time, traveling the world as Low Cut Connie. It's something to celebrate for myself, that I get to do this.

Jill Riley: Yeah, well, we're glad to have you.

Adam Weiner: Hey listen, The Current is the best. You guys have been so good to me. There's so many radio stations and people around the country who who really saw something in my songs and my performances. Because remember, Jill, I'm not on a label. I don't have a manager. This is a little mom and pop shop that we run out of South Philly. There's no venture capital put behind me. Nobody's putting their chips on Low Cut Connie in the year of our Lord 2026. What I've done is, I've just connected with people that love music, like The Current, who are true blue music people, right? And have their communities like you have your listeners and viewers. And it's just been a blessing to connect with The Current and the Twin Cities all these years. And I just want to keep it rocking.

Jill Riley: Well, we're looking forward to the new record Livin in the USA coming July 3. And are you coming back with the band?

Adam Weiner: You heard it here first. November 12 at First Ave. And I believe this is our seventh time headlining First Avenue. It's crazy.

Jill Riley: What do you get on your seventh time?

Adam Weiner: It's like the paper anniversary.

 ill Riley: We'll make a certificate for you.

Adam Weiner: Yes, some origami. You know, it's amazing. And I remember playing at First Avenue. The first time was 2018, all these moments that I have in my career where I think, take a mental snapshot, because this might not happen again, and it has. This is the seventh time. It's pretty cool.

Jill Riley: Well we look forward to it. Adam, thank you so much.

Adam Weiner: Thank you. Jill, thank you, Current, love you.

Jill Riley: All right. You are listening to The Current.

Credits

Guests – Adam Weiner
Host – Jill Riley
Producer – Nilufer Arsala
Digital Producer - Natalia Toledo

External Link

Low Cut Connie – Official Website