From baseball to a gold record; Adam Doleac's rise to success in the country music industry

A weather delay didn't stop hundreds of fans from coming out to watch country music singer Adam Doleac take over the main stage at the Boots and Hearts Music Festival Saturday.

It was Doleac's first time performing at Boots and Hearts. The 35-year-old has only played in Canada a handful of times.

"I talked to a lot of Canadian fans on Instagram and Tik Tok and all that, and for years I just had to say like I'm on my way I'm coming. And we finally got to come up here and play for them, and it was great. They're some of our best fans," Doleac told CTV News in an exclusive interview.

Growing up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Doleac had a unique start in the industry.

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Before getting into music, Doleac was a star athlete and received a scholarship to play baseball in College.

"Three years later, I played in the College World Series, got drafted to play Major League Baseball. In the meantime, my teammates played guitar, and I just kind of started picking up their instruments and noodling around. They always told me, hey, you have a really unique voice, you have a cool voice," said Doleac.

However, Doleac said he was scared to sing in front of a crowd. With a little push from his teammates, he played three local shows.

"I fell in love with it. So instead of going to play in the MLB, I moved to Nashville a year later, and one thing led to another, and we're here now," Doleac said.

Doleac's rise to success is primarily thanks to his record "Famous," which now has over 53 million streams on Spotify.

"It's my first gold record, which is really cool. That song was kind of what opened all these doors for me," said Doleac.

• IN PICTURES | Boots and Hearts 2023

As for the future, Doleac says he's working on a new album and is already halfway finished.

He also recently announced he'll join Old Dominion and Carly Pearce on tour this fall.

"Lots of new music, lots of tour dates, we're heading out to the west coast for the first time this year, lots to look forward to," said Doleac.