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Ryan Adams Information
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'Ryan Adams' (born David Ryan Adams on November 5, 1974) is an alt-country and rock and roll singer/songwriter from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Adams dropped out of high school at 16 to work and make music. He formed a band named Whiskeytown in 1994; they disbanded in 1999. Adams went on to put out his first solo record, Heartbreaker, in 2000.
Ryan Adams is a highly prolific artist, releasing six albums by September 2005, with one more planned for release that year. He has also produced an album by Jesse Malin, contributed to Beth Orton, the Wallflowers and Counting Crows albums, dated Winona Ryder, Beth Orton, Leona Naess, Carrie Hamilton, and Parker Posey, performed specials with Elton John (who referred to him as "Oh Fabulous One"), Willie Nelson, and Toots & the Maytals, and found time to release a punk record with Jesse Malin under the name The Finger. Additionally, at least ten other session recordings can be found floating around the internet.
Musical Career and personal life
Early years
Ryan started out as a punk artist in a band known as The Patty Duke Syndrome They released two songs in 1994 on a 7" single (two songs on one side, the other side was a band called GlamourPuss.) Ryan described punk rock as "too hard to sing" in the song "Faithless Street" by his new outfit, Whiskeytown. Whiskeytown was part of the burgeoning alt-country movement which traces its roots to the work of a number of artists, most notably Gram Parsons and Uncle Tupelo. Following the success of Wilco and Son Volt, Whiskeytown quickly moved to the front of the pack in this movement with the release of their second full-length album, Stranger's Almanac. Being a member of a band was too stifling for Ryan's creativity - the only band member able to tolerate Ryan throughout was Caitlin Cary, the rest came and went in rapid succession. Their last album together, 2001's Pneumonia was held up by legal troubles and didn't come out until two years after Ryan had disbanded the band and gone solo, and then as a sort of work-up for Gold.
Solo debut
Ryan made his solo debut in 2000, with the Ethan Johns produced album Heartbreaker. It is the story of the end of a relationship from one man's perspective. Emmylou Harris, who was the legendary Gram Parson's singing partner, sang backup on "Oh My Sweet Carolina," believed by many fans to be the best song on the album, and maybe even in the history of alt-country. Other backing vocals are provided by Gillian Welch and Kim Richey. It was met with considerable critical success, but sales were slow.
Gold
In 2001, Ryan released Gold, a sprawling sixteen-song album with a limited edition five-song bonus disc. This album adopted a more 'rock' style, but maintained Adams' previous alt-country roots. On September 7, 2001, Ryan made a video for his song, "New York, New York." Featuring Ryan standing on the New Jersey shoreline, with the twin towers of the World Trade Center looming over his shoulders, and Ryan singing "I still love you New York," it became a near-immediate staple on MTV in the days following the September 11 attacks. In 2002, Adams was nominated for three Grammy Award, "Best Male Rock Vocal" for "New York, New York"; "Best Rock Album, Gold; and "Best Male Country Vocal, a cover of Hank Williams's "Lovesick Blues" from Timeless. None won.
Rock 'n' Roll and Love is Hell
Adams has released several albums since, all have been met with fair success, but he still has not had a breakthrough hit. One attempt was made with "So Alive," from his album Rock N Roll, which sounded like he was channeling Bono, circa 1985. A broken wrist suffered in a fall from the stage during a performance in Liverpool, England, put an end to his touring schedule for a while, and it appears that his album sales for Rock 'n' Roll and Love Is Hell (curiously, Love is Hell was originally released in two parts, Part 1 the same day as RnR, then later merged into a single album) suffered as a result.
Adams was nominated for a Grammy Award for his cover of Oasis's "Wonderwall" from Love is Hell but did not win. Having faced such greats as Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits in the same category. The Boss eventually walked away with the award.
Cold Roses, Jacksonville City Nights and 29
Early in the year, Adams announced he would record and relase three albums in 2005. His first release of the year, a double album titled Cold Roses, was released on May 3, 2005. Credited to Ryan Adams and The Cardinals, the album also includes backing vocals from Rachael Yamagata on three songs; "Let it Ride", "Cold Roses", and "Friends." His second album of the year, Jacksonville City Nights, includes the songs "Hard Way To Fall" and "The Hardest Part". In addition, "Dear John," a duet with Norah Jones and Ryan Adams appears on the album. Ryan Adams, this time without The Cardinals, has one more album lined up for a December 20th 2005 release date entitled 29. The album will have nine story songs on it, one for each year of his Twenties. Also released this year was a single for the Cameron Crowe film, "Elizabethtown".
Work together with Jesse Malin
Ryan Adams made his album-production debut with Jesse Malin's first album, The Fine Art of Self Destruction in 2002 (Ryan also plays some electric guitar and keyboard on the album as well as contributing some backing vocals). Ryan later worked with Malin to form the punk-rock group The Finger (under the pseudonyms, "Warren Peace" and "Irving Plaza" respectively), who released two E.P.s which were collected to form the album: We Are Fuck You, released on One Little Indian Records in 2003. Ryan has also gotten behind the board on some of his solo works, but mainly relies on such pros as Ethan Johns and Tom Schick to twist the knobs while he cranks out the songs.
Trivia
*The Old 97's song "Crash on the Barrelhead" is supposed to be about Adams being drunk at their Austin City Limits perfomance.
*According to an interview with Pitchfork, Adams explains that he was upset with the disrespect of a fan's Bryan Adams-related screams during a three-part harmony between Adams, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.
*Adams shares a birthday with both Gram Parsons, one of his major musical influences, and Bryan Adams.
Discography
* Heartbreaker - (2000)
* Gold - (2001)
* Demolition - (2002)
* Rock N Roll - (2003)
* Love Is Hell pt. 1 - (2003)
* Love Is Hell pt. 2 - (2003)
* Love Is Hell - (2004)
* Cold Roses (under the artist name Ryan Adams and the Cardinals) - (2005)
* Jacksonville City Nights (under the artist name Ryan Adams and the Cardinals) - (2005)
* 29 - (2005)
Bootlegs
*Exile On Franklin Street - (2000)
*Destroyer - (2000)
*The Suicide Handbook - (2001)
*48 Hours - (2001)
*The Sweden Sessions - (2001)
*The Pinkheart Sessions - (2001)
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