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“Well I ain’t embarrassed’” 🎸 🤠

Strings McCrane #2

Adam Driver as Strings McCrane from HOLD ON TO ME DARLING, light washing over his slanted shoulders from the windows behind him, the soft waves of his collar length hair curling out from under his black cowboy hat, head tilted to his right, brow ever so faintly furrowed, gaze soft and distant down the length of the gleaming guitar cradled high against his chest, mouth set gently in a straight line, his scruffy chin tucked down a tad.

Photoshoots, as near as I can tell, are almost like acting gigs in and of themselves, it's just that the person you're playing is a more photogenic version of yourself, with the photographer as the director, coaxing the story out of you.

In this case, it kind of was an actual acting gig, in which Adam was playing Strings going through the photoshoot to promote his "Ain't No Time For Crying" tour, at least while the still camera was clicking away.

Here he is, gazing down the side of his guitar, a pensive look on his face. There's just the tiniest hint of a furrow to his brow, but his forehead is relaxed, and so are his cheeks. The rumples in his shirt on his left shoulder, as well as the view we have of the edge of the instrument's belly, tell us his left arm is up and extended out so his hand can hold the neck of the guitar.

I loved how soft the light was on Adam's face, for all that it's pouring so strongly over his shoulder, and the contrast of the light shining down on his left side, but being reflected up on his right, was another small delight.

He's not fully bearded like he was during the run of the play, it looks like he had maybe a couple of weeks of stubble at this point, so I'd guess  (and it is just a guess!) that they did this shoot in late May or early June.

The reference for this one was a screenshot, taken and edited by me, of a short video shared by Emilio Madrid on 14 Feb 2026, which documents the photoshoot that produced the images for the poster and merchandise for HOLD ON TO ME DARLING. It's a delightful 3 minutes, and a fun peek into yet another aspect of bringing a play to life.

🖤 this singin’, stompin’ cowboy🖤

Happy one year anniversary to Adam Driver as Strings McCrane