SHOWREEL

Based in Nashville, Adam CK Vollick is a Grammy- and Emmy-nominated filmmaker who directs and shoots on some of the world’s biggest music stages. His work bridges cinematic storytelling and live broadcast—shaping how audiences experience performance, both on screen and in real time.

Vollick has directed multi-camera productions for Coachella, Stagecoach, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits, bringing his distinct visual approach to live festival and broadcast environments. His feature and documentary credits include Matter of Time (Netflix 2025 – Jury Award, Nashville Film Festival), Coastal (2025 – Dir. Daryl Hannah), The Hallelujah Train (2024 – Writer/Director), and the Grammy-nominated BARN (2021 – Dir. Neil Young).

Whether directing multi-camera crews or capturing intimate vérité sequences, Vollick’s filmmaking reveals the intersection of music, place, and performance. His imagery—seen across Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and international festivals—fuses analog soul with modern precision, rooted in the creative energy of Nashville’s evolving music scene.

DOCUMENTARY

MATTER OF TIME / EDDIE VEDDER – EB DOCUMENTARY

The documentary “Matter of Time” follows Eddie Vedder’s solo concerts in 2023 to raise awareness and funds for Epidermolysis Bullosa research. Produced by Door Knocker Media and the Vitalogy Foundation, the film weaves intimate performances with stories from patients, families and scientists working toward a cure for the rare skin disorder. Director Matt Finlin and Adam CK Vollick share cinematographer credit. The film has appeared at numerous festivals and won the jury award at Nashville film festival in 2025 for best music documentary.

COASTAL / NEIL YOUNG – SOLO TOUR DOCUMENTARY

This behind-the-scenes documentary follows Neil Young’s 2023 solo West Coast tour. Directed by Daryl Hannah, with cinematography by Adam CK Vollick, it captures intimate moments on the road, candid observations and rare performances of songs seldom played live. Offering a personal glimpse into Young’s return to the stage, the film shows the humor, humanity and raw energy of a music legend on the move.

BARN / neil young and crazy horse #GRAMMY NOMINATED BEST MUSIC FILM 2023

UPDATE* Late 2022 BARN received a Grammy Nomination for Best Music Film. See you in April at the # Grammys

BARN - Recorded in Midsummer 2021 somewhere in Colorado. Crazy Horse reformed for a two week recording session in a Pole barn that had been rebuilt exactly as it was originally in the late 1800’s. Daryl Hannah directed and shot intimate moments with the band while I facilitated the rest of the shooting. Don’t spook the Horse is always the main rule to abide so I designed the production around that, and crept around in the shadows operating where I could. The sleepless nights were worth it, as the time-lapse I made for “They Might Be Lost” is one of my best ever and when paired with Neil’s music brings a tear to my eye every time. Also pictured here is the packaging my photography was used to produce.

MOUNTAINTOP / NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE

Directed by Bernard Shakey and DHLoveLife. I was the Director of Photography. 86 minutes of unbridled Crazy Horse, making an album in a studio at 9,000ft above sea level.

“Mountaintop” is similarly restricted from a visual perspective. Despite the scenic locale of the recording studio, there are only a couple of moments when the band and the film step outside for a bit of fresh air. Most of the footage has been shot from small digital cameras that have been placed throughout the studio and is put together in a deliberately repetitive shot pattern that at times utilizes angles normally associated with security cameras. For some people, this particular approach may strike them as somewhere between irritating and downright perverse. But it proves to be an intriguing stylistic gambit from Young and cinematographer Adam Vollick, who create a visual equivalent to the Crazy Horse sound—something that might seem to be plodding and monotonous on the surface but proves to be far more inspired than that.

via https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mountaintop-movie-review-2019

HERE IS WHAT IS / DANIEL LANOIS

Here is What Is was Adam CK Vollick’s first film—a collaboration with producer Daniel Lanois and engineer Adam Samuels. Completed in under a year, it premiered at TIFF in 2007. Vollick drove to the premiere with one of his heroes, Anton Corbijn, who also shot a scene in Morocco featuring Brian Eno and Lanois. He threw himself into the project, sleeping on the cutting-room floor and working 20 -hour days for ten months. This trial by fire launched his filmmaking journey and set the tone for his immersive style. Vollick also designed the deluxe DVD packaging for both versions; the layouts are shown below.

MUSIC VIDEO

SELECTED WORKS

UNCERTAIN COUNTRY – GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS (2023)

Adam CK Vollick directed and filmed this official video for Great Lake Swimmers’ 2023 track “Uncertain Country.” Using swirling imagery and intimate performance footage, he reflects the song’s introspective mood with his signature raw, one‑take style.

In support of his Heavy Sun Orchestra lead track release, we made this psychedelic dance film. During the 2nd Lockdown here in Canada Daniel approached me about making a film for his latest upcoming release. We reused the film of our friend Carolina dancing after Nuit Blanche in 2010 (the same film Sioux Lookout was based on) in a reimagining amongst the geometric samplings Lanois makes on a daily basis. I animated the geometry and then put everything through my sound activated processing algorithm and this beautiful #glitchart is the result.

VENETIAN SNARES AND DANIEL LANOIS – NIGHT GHP133

This piece is an early example of Adam CK Vollick’s experimentation with sound‑activated manipulation and AI‑driven time interpolation. He assembled a collection of abstract images that Daniel Lanois creates in his meditative routines and processed them through a rig of microphones and algorithms to interpret different frequencies and apply various effects. The results were recomposited and re‑synced to the original audio. Produced in 2018 in support of the radical record by Daniel Lanois and Venetian Snares, the video drew attention from Pitchfork.

Spontaneously one afternoon in Toronto, while we were preparing for departure on the Flesh and Machine tour, we rigged up the Cadillac to do a quick remix of Tinariwen. Cut it and delivered that afternoon.

DANIEL LANOIS – SIOUX LOOKOUT / FLESH AND MACHINE

This music video was shot, directed and edited by Adam CK Vollick for Daniel Lanois. It originated the night after Nuit Blanche in 2010, when Lanois invited dancer Carolina Cerisola and Vollick into his new Toronto workshop after a sleepless evening to capture an improvised performance. The footage lay dormant until 2014, when the evolving sonic textures of Lanois’ album Flesh and Machine inspired Vollick to revisit it. The indigenous cries in “Sioux Lookout” evoke nearly lost ways of living in harmony with nature; in the video, Cerisola metamorphoses into a supernatural creature, mirroring the music’s synesthetic, shape‑shifting soundscape.

Brian Blade, Daryl Johnson, Daniel Lanois and Trixie Whitley.  I shot a series of one take videos for this project that got me my gig with Neil. "Music video by Black Dub performing ""I Believe In You"" Live Off The Floor. (C) 2010 JIVE Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment"

NARRATIVE

PARADOX

An unrealistic tale of music and love. Directed by Daryl Hannah. Starring Neil Young, and Promise of the Real (Lukas Nelson, Micah Nelson, Anthony Logerfo, Tato Melgar and Corey McCormick).  Special appearances by Willie Nelson and Elliot Roberts.

THE FRONTIER

Directed by Matt Rabinowitz and starring Max Gail. Adam CK Vollick served as director of photography for this familial drama about three unlikely individuals at crossroads in their lives who come together and help each other find their way forward. Sean, a retired literature professor and civic activist, writes a letter to his son, Tennessee, a ranch hand who hasn’t been home for years.

ART & MUSIC

NEIL YOUNG / HOME TOWN

December 1st 2018, Neil Young played Coronation Hall from Omemee, Ontario in a worldwide livestream and is now streaming on Crave TV in Canada.  Directed by Daryl Hannah.  I co-art directed and directed photography as well as operating a handheld camera.

JT + THE TENNESSEE KIDS

Directed by Jonathan Demme.  Starring Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids.  Streaming on Netflix. 

Shot over the course of 5 days in Las Vegas,  I was a documentary camera operator, and on stage operator for Declan Quinn.

NEIL YOUNG / JOURNEYS

2011.  The third in a series of Demme/Young collaborative concert films.  I got to shoot for Jonathan after he saw LE NOISE.  I was a handheld operator under the guidance of Declan Quinn.  My first of a few pictures with JD and DQ. 

NEIL YOUNG / LE NOISE

© 2010 WMG Watch the premiere of Neil Young's film "Le Noise," featuring performances from his new album! Get it at iTunes - http://wbr.fm/decJgb Directed by Adam Vollick.

COMMERCIAL

WATER COMMERCIALS / TIMELESS ORPHEUM / NEIL YOUNG

During the first lockdown of 2020, my daughter and I made a series of commercials for Water to coincide with a Neil Young Concert film I shot with him during the Polar Vortex in Minneapolis, MN in 2019.
We did the first one as a surprise for Neil when I delivered the rough cut. He kept making these throw to commercial from stage “this show is brought to you by water.. it’s free” etc. I couldn’t help but think he was talking to me.

If you haven’t seen it, head on over to NY ARCHIVES and checkout the Timeless Orpheum.