Singer-songwriter Brad Colerick was born in Valentine, Nebraska in the heart of Cherry County. The county’s population density is one person per square mile — significantly less than density of cattle. Colerick spent his formative years in Lincoln where he attended the University of Nebraska studying business and music. In the summer of 1986, he packed up his VW Jetta with everything that would fit and headed west to Los Angeles — population density 8,500 per square mile.

After some lean years he found success making music for commercials for such clients as Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Budweiser, and Sears. The ad campaigns frequently utilized talents of iconic artists such as BB King and Johnny Cash, whose signature adorns one of Colerick’s prized guitars. A piece Colerick penned for the Illinois Lottery (sung by blues legend Buddy Guy) won a London International Advertising Award. He also produced music for an Emmy-winning campaign for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

After a nearly 20 year hiatus from making records, Colerick return to his roots and put out his first CD, Cottonwood, in 2006. Since that time, he has toured the country and released five subsequent albums — Lines In The Dirt (2007), When I’m Gone (2009), Tucson (2014), Nine Ten Thirty (2018) and Hope Street (2021).