Seventh-generation ballad singer, storyteller, and musician Sheila Kay Adams hails from the Sodom Laurel community of Madison County of western North Carolina, an area renowned for its unbroken tradition of unaccompanied ballad singing dating back to the Scottish and English settlers in the mid-17th century. Adams learned from older family members in the oral tradition. She is an award winning banjo player and storyteller. She began performing in her teens and throughout her career she has performed at festivals, events, music camps, and workshops around the region, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and France. These include the US's Bicentennial Celebration (1976), National Folk Festivals, the International Storytelling Festival, the National Folk Festivals in England and Australia, and the 2025 Newport Folk Festival, which she opened. Adams has published two award-winning books, Come Go Home With Me (UNC-Press, 1997) and My Old True Love (Algonquin Books, 2004). She has released twelve recordings of her work. She appeared in Last of the Mohicans (1992), served as technical advisor and singing coach for Songcatcher (2000), and sang a ballad for the sound track of The History of Sound (2025). In 2013, she received the nation's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts, The National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship. In 2016, she received the NC Heritage Award. In 2023, Adams formed a community of singers, The Nest of Singing Birds, ensuring the passing on of her heritage.