By Jason M. Rubin

Here’s hoping that Adam Sherman and Robin Lane remain a creative item and continue to write and record new material. Both are in late-career resurgences and have devoted fans that fill the smaller clubs they typically perform in to the brim.

EP cover photo by Adam Signore

It’s probably not fair to call Cambridge-based Adam Sherman a local legend, as he would be a legend in any locality he chose to call home. In 1980, as a member of Private Lightning, he grasped the brass ring just briefly before it was swiped from his grip. But he has been one of the Boston area’s premier singer-songwriters for decades — both as a solo artist and as a member of The Souls and Nervous Eaters — and his fans go gaga for his deeply emotional songs and dusky yet silken cello-like voice.

Lately, he’s been teaming up with Robin Lane, another local legend (western Massachusetts by way of Los Angeles and Cambridge) and a contemporary of Sherman’s. She, of course, fronted a band called the Chartbusters from 1979 to 1983 that never quite lived up to its name, though the video for the band’s catchy “When Things Go Wrong” was among the first dozen to be played on MTV’s debut day in 1981. She keeps busy by teaching songwriting to women who have experienced trauma and reenergizing her solo career (cf. my review of her 2022 album, Dirt Road to Heaven).

Though their basic styles are different — Sherman exorcises his often-dark songs, as if from a tortured soul, through a contorted singing face reminiscent of Gerald Scarfe’s illustrations for Pink Floyd’s The Wall, while Lane’s self-empowering, “no more fucks to give” anthems flow out of her with wisdom born of experience — they make a natural pair. This was in evidence  at the Plough and Stars in Cambridge on March 16, 2025, when Sherman ceded his second set to Lane and her band during his third-Sunday-of-the-month residency at the club. Each also guested in the other’s set, to the delight of the crowd.

Their next gig together is a launch event for Sherman’s new EP, Nowhere But Here, on which Lane provides harmony vocals, which will be held on March 29 at Club Passim in Cambridge. The Robin Lane Band will headline, while Sherman will open the proceedings with songs from the EP and his solo career. Local saxophonist Ken Field, who produced the recording (as he did a full-length CD, Songbird, for Sherman back in 2011), will join for a couple of songs and Lane will lend her background vocals as well.

Is this the start of a beautiful friendship, or a continuing mutual admiration society?

“Robin and I knew each other in the ’80s,” says Sherman, “but we only began sending demos to each other last April. I have total respect for her as a singer and songwriter, and our voices blend in a unique and special way. We are writing together and will continue to collaborate, as we both feel the desire to make music together into the future.”

Alas, he adds, there are no plans for a full-length album at this time due to cost. But that’s all the more reason to celebrate their work together on Nowhere But Here (available on CD and digital as of March 28). All four songs were written by Sherman, including the opener, “Gratitude,” which more than many of his songs seeks to balance pain with perseverance.

“These songs are all about finding the strength to move on towards love and kindness, even when there is loss,” Sherman says. “I would love listeners to feel that joy and sadness will always be present in our lives and that we can learn to embrace both and persevere.”

Adam Sherman and Robin Lane performing at Cambridge’s Plough and Stars this month. Photo: Jason Rubin

Indeed, even though “Gratitude” opens with the happy-go-lucky lines, “I looked and I have found/Blessings that I can’t count,” later in the song he acknowledges, “Strength is not a given thing/Weakness and suffering/Weigh on us every day/Tearing at hope and faith.” Still, by tune’s end he pledges to use “gratitude as my guide.”

The next song is the heartbreaking ballad “How Hard I Tried,” about a guy who can’t get or keep the woman he desires to be with, though not for lack of effort. Backed by a lovely and empathic string arrangement by Field, the song hits the listener in the solar plexus and yet, again, Sherman’s hero keeps a stiff upper lip: “I’ll go on and I will be alright.”

“Torn and Tattered” is a countryish ballad, replete with lap steel guitar by Jon Evans and a gentle guitar solo by Mark Usher. Here, it’s a friend of the singer who is in pain and whatever relief Sherman can provide comes with the knowledge that he, too, has been through hell: “You think that I am strong/Well, I don’t know what you’ve heard/Cause once a heart’s been broken/Love is just another word.” Speaking from hard experience, Sherman advises his friend that “The only thing that matters is how you turn your life around.”

The 13-plus minute EP ends with a tune from last fall, produced by Sherman and featuring him on all instruments except bass. On this song, “Pure as Yours,” what strikes the listener most is the purity of Sherman’s voice as he smoothly sweeps the upper register of his range. The short, simple refrain of “I just want love to be pure/Just as pure as yours” is elevated by the way he effortlessly stretches out the words and lines, delivering what is essentially the lyrical theme of this set, “I want to be in your life.”

Here’s hoping that Sherman and Lane remain a creative item and continue to write and record new material. Both are in late-career resurgences and have devoted fans that fill the smaller clubs they typically perform in to the brim. We are lucky to have these legends in our midst.

Jason M. Rubin has been a professional writer for 40 years. He has written for Arts Fuse since 2012. His books include Villainy Ever After (2022), a collection of classic fairy tales told from the villains’ point of view; and Ancient Tales Newly Told (2019), a pairing of two historical romances: The Grave & The Gay, based on a 17th-century English folk ballad, and King of Kings, about King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, told primarily from the Ethiopian tradition. In addition, Jason teaches journaling workshops and is a member of the New England Indie Authors Collective. He holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He can be reached at http://www.jasonmrubin.com.