Adams, Ryan

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RYAN ADAMS

Born: David Ryan Adams; Jacksonville, North Carolina, 5 November 1974

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Gold (2001)

Hit songs since 1990: "New York, New York," "When the Stars Go Blue," "Answering Bell"

Ryan Adams, the solo singer/songwriter, combines the cocky cacophony of garage rock with the sweet and sad aspects of country music. Adams started out as the lead singer and songwriter of Whiskeytown, a band that rode the wave of alternative-country in the mid- to late 1990s. Formed in 1994, the group officially broke up around 2000, shortly before the release of Adams's debut album Heartbreaker (2000). In just two years, the prolific Adams released three albums.

For someone who dropped out of high school after tenth grade, Adams has proved to be a success. Guest appearances by country singers Kim Richey and Emmylou Harris make Heartbreaker no ordinary debut. It is an introspective tearjerker, an earthy, spare production, with Adams's cracked, worldly voice holding it together, while the pianos, banjos, harmonicas, and acoustic guitar play in the background. First-person songs examine failed romantic relationships. A sorrowful, wailing harmonica accompanies cry-in-your-beer tunes such as "Sweet Carolina," a duet with Emmylou Harris, and the desperate, waltzy ballad "Why Do You Leave?"

Adams quickly signed to Lost Highway, the country-rock imprint of Universal Music Group. Gold (2001), which Adams wrote while living in Los Angeles, brought him some attention. The video for "New York, New York," the album's first track, showed the downtown skyline of Manhattan and was recorded just a few days before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It became an unintended anthem. Adams called "New York, New York" his love letter to the city, but did not mean it to be patriotic. In the chorus he sings, "Love don't play any games with me like she did before / The world won't wait so I better shake / That thing right through the door / Hell I still love you though, New York." With its Hammond organ, chugging beat, and a guitar lick worthy of the Rolling Stones, "New York, New York" is Gold 's most inspirational moment. Gold 's other fifteen tracks are mostly mid-tempo musings on city life, relationships, and late nights at bars. "La Cienega Just Smiled" is lovely. "When the Stars Go Blue" was covered by Bono of U2 and the Corrs shortly after the album's release.

With a chameleonlike voice, Adams conjures the raw grit and rebellious spirit of Steve Earle one minute, and the sweetness and desperation of a folksinger the next. He has the disheveled, devil-may-care demeanor of a true punk rocker and the heart of a die-hard romantic troubadour unafraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. As a musician, his instincts are more varied than any single genre could convey.