Last week, Ryan Adams released five new albums — four albums of all new material and one of the best-produced live albums you’re likely to hear. The records cover a wide stylistic territory from Americana to ’80s-inspired punk rock, they’re all very good, and this should be a crowning achievement for generational songwriting talent.
At age 49, the excess prolificacy of his early career no longer seems to be a problem. I don’t know if releasing five stellar albums on a single day is the best marketing strategy, but he may already have performed the musical feat of the year in the first week of January, assuming anyone takes the time to listen. Music critics once heaped adoration upon Adams, but you likely won’t hear much of anything about his new music — Adams was brutally and publicly canceled in 2019 for his predatory and abusive behavior toward women.
Adams’ first taste of fame came when he was still a teenager in North Carolina, fronting the much-beloved alt-country band Whiskeytown. But it was his first solo record in 2000 that shot his career out of a cannon. Featuring a duet with the legendary Emmylou Harris and a couple of collaborations with David Rawlings, one of Nashville’s true geniuses, “Heartbreaker” is easily one of the best records of the last quarter of a century.
His second solo record was a bona fide commercial success. Released on Sept. 25, 2001, the double album “Gold” was anchored by a coincidental and infectious
