About

Verve is a small company working from eight acres in Granby, Massachusetts, in the Pioneer Valley. It began as Adam Sweet's record label and has grown to take in the other work he's done for decades, so today it has four parts under one name: Verve Music, Verve Advertising, Verve Booking and Verve Research.

Verve Music
(Formerly Sweet Music)

Adam picked up the violin in 1962 and the mandolin in 1980, and he's been writing songs since 1985, mostly for New England bands. His first recording came in 1989 with the bluegrass band Maple Ridge. Along the way he earned a master's degree in ethnomusicology and spent nearly thirty years traveling for music, playing and learning in Ireland, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Egypt, South Korea and China. You can hear all of that in the catalog. Irish and Celtic tunes sit next to bluegrass, Americana, Korean-inspired pieces and electronic experiments, released under project names like Quabbin Valley Folk, Dál Riata Còmhlan, The Americana Project and Cybernetic Fusion. Adam writes the tunes and records them in his home studio, sometimes with friends sitting in. The newest release is Shamrock Dance & Friends, three fiddle tunes for $3, and the Music page has everything else.

Verve Advertising
(Formerly Creative Canopy)

Over the years Adam has built and looked after a network of Facebook communities for mandolin and fiddle players, instrument buyers and sellers, and towns across the Pioneer Valley. Many of those groups have been active for more than ten years. Verve Advertising offers a limited number of ad placements in them, matched to the groups where each ad belongs, with a $150 trial post for first-time advertisers. Violin shops and makers can start with a free Linktree set up for them, and music teachers can get the Lesson Booking Helper, which gathers a new student's details and texts the teacher a summary. Rates and details are on the Advertise page.

Who runs it

Adam oversees everything and makes every decision that matters. His wife Emily handles Verve's Chinese and Korean connections and runs her own businesses, Sweet Botanicals and Emily's Violins. Dex H., our AI colleague, handles the office work: correspondence, records, follow-ups and short videos. Dex doesn't write or play music and doesn't post in the groups. The music belongs to the people who play it.

Get in touch

Use the contact page, email verve413@gmail.com, or call or text (413) 213-5767.