Though I’ve never been one to like thrash metal, or even something as relatively tame in that genre like Metallica, I think my current taste in music is skewing, well, old.Case in point, my latest musical love, Ryan Adams. Upon my first listen to his latest CD, Easy Tiger, I am instantly taken with his voice, but a nagging voice inside my head says “Doesn’t he sound a lot like Jackson Browne too?” That can’t be right. Jackson Browne is music fit for my father. To add insult to injury, my iTunes software gently mocks me, revealing that it has decided to categorize Easy Tiger as….country.
Though, yes he produced an album for Willie Nelson, George Jones he isn’t. He once sang in his old band, Whiskeytown that he decided to sing country cause it was easier on him than singing punk. One of his more famous songs is a cover of Oasis’ “Wonderwall.” Please don’t confuse him with that Canadian light-rocker either. I’ve only listened to this album twice now (I just bought it this weekend) but Ryan Adams seems more like had he been born 20 years earlier, he would have been right at home on stage for The Last Waltz with The Band, not quite kicking it up at the Grand Ol’ Opry. But his sound is definitely more rootsy than twangy and his singing voice is quite lovely, too, a tenor voice that easily stretches into falsetto when he wants.
I remember rumblings about Ryan Adams from when I was in university. He was, at one point, named The Person Who Will Save Rock and Roll. Only 32, he has put out a whole mess of albums since he was 16 -- some people in fact deliberately using the word mess to describe some of his past efforts.
True to form with those rockers marked for greatness, or at least cult status, Adams is not without his problems. Reportedly he is as mercurial in nature as his music – one never knows if they paid good money to watch him walk off the stage three songs in because he is unhappy with something about his performance, or the venue, or the fans. But in recent interviews, he claims all of that is behind him now. He is ready to play to his fans and work for his record label.
Only time is going to tell whether that is really the case. People who have been rock music fans for years can certainly say they’ve heard that one before from some other voice of a generation that imploded too soon. In any case, I’m looking forward to looking into his back catalog to see what other treasures I can find.
3 comments:
I think my taste in music is becomming like my fathers as well with all the opera I've got on it at the moment-far more embarassing that yours!! Looks like I might have to give this cutie a shot-if not for his music then for his cuteness
First off, what's wrong with Jackson Browne? The album "For Everyman" is a seamless work of coming-of-age art. Second, I'm very happy that you've found a way to like Ryan Adams. Aside from an amazing singing voice, his honesty in songwriting is what really sets him apart. He says the vulnerable things other singer/songwriters are afraid to. Now that you've absorbed Easy Tiger, try Heartbreaker, his first solo album. It's one of the saddest, most beautiful folk albums ever made. And individual songs: I See Monsters, September, Starlite Diner, La Cienaga Just Smiled, Silver Bullets, Friends, Dear Chicago, Elizabeth You Were Born to Play That Part . . . oh I could go on.
Well I admit to liking the song Running on Empty, but a lot of 70s music in general just doesn't do it for me. I won't name any names but I think had I been a teen back *then*, bands like The Clash and Talking Heads and Elvis Costello would have been a godsend to me because lots of the mainstream rock in the 1970s, in my opinion, just seems very soft. Maybe they were collectively recovering from a hangover brought on by the late 60s. :)
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