Matt Weir / The Collegian

The students and staff at University Courtyard have had their eyes and ears on something new: their very own self-taught troubadour.

Unfortunately for Adam Stephens, business major and University Courtyard student assistant, the sounds of “Creep” by Radiohead reverberating against the walls of the dorms wasn’t a crowd pleaser.

“You don’t get much love when your belting out how you feel in the middle of the night,” Stephen’s said.

The Lemoore native originally began playing music in elementary school when his grandmother advised that he learn to play the piano. After middle school, Stephens enrolled in music classes, learned how to play the trumpet and joined a band.

“Now, I play wherever I can find inspiration. The people that I played with all had their musical talents and now I’m going the solo route,” Stephens said. “It’s a little bit hard to mesh your style with everybody else’s, so I eventually just went on my own.”

Inspired by folk music, the environment and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keaton, the 25-year-old musician describes his style as a more emotional type of music than anything.

“More from the heart, less mainstream,” Stephens said. “The great thing about music is you can always transform melodies to apply to you.”