Ryan Adams on ACL

I just saw Ryan Adams on Austin City Limits....wow, what a set. His lyrics have the depth and story telling quality of Dylan, he has a strong unique voice, and his music has that 70's retro tube driven vibe. Sweet tasteful pedal steel and tasteful guitar embellishments throughout the songs....even some cool 2 guitar harmonies on "Cold Roses". You know it's good when the folks in his band are mouthing the lyrics when Ryan's playing on his own. It definitely drew me in...

He recently produced Willie Nelson's latest record "Songbird"... but I have yet to spend time digesting it. He's like the "country" Elvis Costello!

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yeah, I love Ryan Adams as well, though I only have one of his cd's, the one with 'New York, New York' on it.

Any other albums of his you'd recommend?

Hey Matt,

Ryan is a very interesting artist who changes radically album to album (probaby why he's so great). Personally, I really love Gold (the one you already have and my favorite), but I also find myself gravitating towards Cold Roses and Demolition as complete albums as well. Jacksonvile City Nights, Easy Tiger,Love is Hell, 29, and Rock and Roll as well as most of his other albums (including his Whiskytown stuff) have some great cuts (and I tend to discover new ones all the time), but they don't inspire me to listen all the way through in one sitting the way Gold does. Rock and Roll sounds remarkably like an Oasis record, although I tend to gravitate more towards is stuff that is more rock with a country leaning.

My musician friends have started jamming to "Nobody Girl" from Gold which is an exercise in restraint that blows up into a huge jam at the end...what an incredible song/arrangement. We listened to Gold almost exclusively on a tour of Texas we did last summer. Brilliant songwriting, arranging, and performance.

It's amazing for me to realize that Ryan is 4 years younger than I am....He has produced a tremendous body of work rivaled by few in the recording field. I've never seen him live, but I've heard he's been a hit or miss (probably depending on whether he's fallen off the wagon).

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yea he's cool