New Music Tuesdays...Ryan Adam's Ashes & Fire

I've always liked Ryan Adam's sound.  Stranger's Almanac and Pneumonia by Whiskeytown  wasn't my introduction to Ryan Adams but I went back after his solo album Gold  came out in 2001 and discovered his past band plus another must hear solo album Heartbreaker which is full of great songs and even recorded banter about Morrissey songs. 

He is a solid songwriter and his prolific style should be a positive thing for us,I feel, and not something that I think has been used to make fun of him.   
Ashes & Fire is a slow burner with the pace set by Ryan's acoustic guitar.  Layers and melody make this a beautiful album.  Glyn Johns produced this album and his resume includes Beatles Let It Be, The Who Who's Next and Stones Exile on Main Street.  
"Invisible Riverside" apparently was the first song Ryan played for Glyn Johns which was a good choice. It's one of many highlights on this record. "Do I Wait" has a great electric guitar in the middle of the song while haunting keyboards provided by Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers floats in the background. Also nice electric guitar work on "Lucky Now." The record is released on PAX-AM Records which is a record label founded by Adams back in 2004 but Ashes & Fire is the first full album release on his label.

Glyn Johns & Ryan Adams in studio

Ryan has soaked up a lot of music over his years and has been able to mold it into his own quality. I saw Ryan on his Cold Roses tour and I'll have to say I wish I hadn't. His on stage antics really turned me off for a while even though I have always respected his musical talent. I have been reading that his marriage and years have given him a more mature perspective on himself and it shows.  This album is a thoughtful well crafted group of songs that are given to us by an authentic American songwriter and really that's all we need. 

The Showbiz Kids rating: 8 out of a possible 10

Mike Smith, The Showbiz Kids

Ryan Adams: New Album + U.S. Show

Ryan Adams long-awaited “return” album—titled Ashes and Rain—is scheduled to be released October 11. While Adams has released several albums since his departure from music—the heavy metal Orion (last October though recorded four years earlier) and a scattershot collection of Cardinals’ material last December (III/IV )—this is his first proper follow up to 2008’s Cardinology.

While on a solo tour in the United Kingdom this summer—his first tour in roughly two years—he spoke with Q magazine. Among the interesting tidbits are that legendary producer Glyn Johns is credited with the new album’s production—Glyn’s son Ethan produced Adams’ Heartbreaker, Gold, Demolition and 29 —and that the album’s 12 tracks include guests such as Heartbreaker keyboardist Benmont Tench and longtime friend and collaborator Norah Jones. While the band lineup for the album is unclear, one can suspect Adams called upon longtime drummer Brad Pemberton for the sessions.

The 12 songs will most likely include “Dirty Rain,” “Kindness, Till I Found You,” “Lucky Now,” “Invisible Riverside” and “Shadow of the Light.”

One person, besides Pemberton, who’s likely involved, is keyboardist/producer Jamie Candiloro who was joined Adams’ fold with 2007’s Easy Tiger. In March, Adams posted to his Facebook, “Congrats Jamie C… After 4 years of production work we finished the infmous never-ending BLACKHOLE Record tonight! What a trip! Big love to the Candyman.”

Blackhole is but one of many unreleased (but oft mentioned and/or bootlegged) Adams records—others include Suicide Handbook,48 Hours, Pinkhearts and Darkbreaker.

In 2007, Adams described Blackhole as “a real serious effort to make a rock record, really epic and big. None of those absurdist jokey lyrics like on Rock N Roll. You listen to it and think , ‘My God, this guy is gonna die.’ That was the last record I made in the last day of the drugs.”

No announcement has been made as to when Blackhole will be released but it would seem it will be sometime after Ashes and Rain.

And, finally, Adams has announced his first official show in the States- a solo performance at Benaroya Hall on October 21 as part of City Arts Music Festival 2011. Tickets and information availablehere.

Check out the videos below from this summer’s solo European tour. First is the new song “Dirty Rain” from Lisbon (with plenty of fun banter) and the second is “If I Were a Stranger” from Amsterdam. 

Article from Jambands.com