YEAH I DID IT.

I don't care if this has been done before.

We're going through Ryan's discography, one by one, and discussing the fuck out of it. This will also be the perfect opportunity for those unlucky ones without all the bootlegs, since I have pretty much everything and will be uploading it in due time.

We'll start with Whiskeytown, at the logical starting point -- We'll get to pre-WT demos later:

Whiskeytown: Rural Free Delivery (1997, rec. 1994)



1. Take Your Guns to Town
2. Nervous Breakdown
3. Tennessee Square
4. Captain Smith
5. Macon, Georgia County Line
6. Pawn Shop Ain’t No Place For a Wedding Ring
7. Oklahoma
8. Angels are messengers from God (Faithless Street)

Yes, yes, this was released AFTER Faithless Street, but recorded before, so it goes first.


A solid EP, with an unfortunate Phil song (Captain Smith), an unfortunate Ryan song (Macon Georgia County Line), very different versions of future classics (Faithless Street, Tennessee Square), and some just damn great songs. This was right at the beginning of WT, so the country flavour has a bit of novelty to it. Check out the ultra-clichés of Take Your Guns To Town and Pawn Shop Ain't No Place For A Wedding Ring (both prime Early Adams, aching harmonies on the latter especially); and the redneck take on Nervous Breakdown is greatness.

EDIT: updated with link.

We'll see about the pace of this, how it goes, and if it doesn't tank completely, a new album every other day or so.

don't be a pussy, do a track-by-track.

I like this thread. Keep at it....

I've never heard this guy's music but he did send someone to my end of the bar once to see if I knew where to get some coke.

don't tempt me, man

Also, if everyone could throw in their comments about the releases, that would be great, because that's pretty much the point of this thread, aside from spreading the ryan.

I like you.

I won't be able to comment until you get to Stranger's Almanac (and then I'll be contributing a near-useless "FUCK YEAH!") as it's the first (and one of only two) Whiskeytown records I ever heard, but god do I love Ryan Adams. I will wax rhapsodic about the underrated Rock'n'Roll, however.

Monty will be along soon to explain why Adams isn't as good as The Eagles, but don't let that stop you. Go, man, go!

I am providing links if you want to familiarize yourself with the unfamiliar..

And if you don't have Faithless Street, which is up next, then you should, nay, HAVE TO, grab that.

I support this thread. As one of the bigger Ryan Adams fans, I will do my best to chime in on each release as well. And once we get to the end, I'll probably repost my "Essential Ryan Adams" mix I made about two years ago that I know already won over a few nonbelievers in its first incarnation.

Yeah, count on me grabbing whatever I don't have. Bless you.

which also, I believe, prompted me to make my own. I still never finished that artwork.....

I'm a huge RA defender/apologist/fanboy, so I'll keep checking in on this thread.

i just want to finally hear that new wavey record he put out a few years ago... what was that called again?

otherwise... fuck Ryan Adams.

First reaction to Rural Free Delivery:

Is this Adams on vocals? He sounds like a ringer for Jay Farrar, especially on"Take Your Guns to Town." And I mean that as a compliment - whatever problems I have with Son Volt, Farrar's vocals aren't among them.

I'm on my second listen and basically like it. Some of these songs, the punk underpinning doesn't do much for me - I'm more of a straight-ahead country/ country-rock guy, so harmonica and fiddle are always gonna be where I'm comfortable, even when they're not breathtakingly original. The first three tracks sound great to me, especially "Tennessee Square."

This is gonna show up on a lot of future playlists.

I think that would be Rock 'N' Roll..




OTM on the Jay Farrar thing. Faithless Street is like that too. I heard Whiskeytown before Uncle Tupelo or Son Volt, and as soon as I heard No Depression I couldn't believe how much Ryan was ripping Farrar..but I still love it anyway.

And yeah, Ryan sings vocals on all songs except Captain Smith.

Hate to be predictable and all that, but Heartbreaker is such an amazing record. Can't wait to talk about it.

Count me in on the non-haters.

I've got so many of his gigs on concerts, most of them thanks to Ryan for letting recorders plug into the SBD.

Will defend the guy forever, fuck the haters.

Rural Free Delivery doesn't grab me too much though. I don't think Whiskeytown reached the 'good' stage until Stranger's Almanac (which was wasn't just good, it was brilliant).

yeah? is that the one where he sounded all 80's and shit? i want that one.

otherwise, yes, i'm a hater and i will stay out of this thread. carry on.

am i the only person who loves rock and roll?

Eh, I dislike it quite a bit but it's still somewhat enjoyable. Plus it has Burning Photographs which is one of his best songs. BUt that's a discussion for later!

not at all...

i heartily endorse and recommend this thread.

ry-ry does very little wrong for mine.

rural free delivery is, as most debut eps are, a patchy and derivative release but there's glimpses of gold in them thar hills.

"i started this damn country band cos punk rock is too hard to sing..."

Faithless Street
(1995, rem. 1998)





First things first, this album was released in 1995 with a short tracklist that made Ryan unhapppy. In 1998 it was released in a gigantic remastered form with some songs from the sessions that made SA as well (Excuse Me.., 16 Days, Yesterday's News)

Tracklist:

01. Midway Park [0:03:23.73]
02. Drank Like A River [0:02:57.20]
03. Too Drunk To Dream [0:02:53.40]
04. Tennessee Square [0:02:49.49]
05. What May Seem Like Love [0:03:46.66]
06. Faithless Street [0:03:55.24]
07. Mining Town [0:02:34.69]
08. If He Can't Have You [0:03:51.80]
09. Black Arrow, Bleeding Heart [0:02:20.17]
10. Matrimony [0:03:49.20]
11. Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight [0:03:20.82]
12. Desperate Ain't Lonely [0:02:16.30]
13. Hard Luck Story [0:02:07.36]
14. Top Dollar [0:02:38.73]
15. Lo-Fi Tennessee Mountain Angel (For Kathy Poindexter) [0:04:32.40]
16. Revenge [0:02:43.00]
17. Empty Baseball Park (Baseball Park Sessions) [0:02:54.80]
18. Here's To The Rest Of The World (Baseball Park Sessions) [0:03:07.77]
19. 16 Days (Baseball Park Sessions) [0:03:45.73]
20. Yesterday's News (Baseball Park Sessions) [0:02:52.56]
21. Factory Girl (Baseball Park Sessions) [0:04:50.10]


Well.. this album is pretty huge. First few listens to it it kind of blended together and resisted further exploration..but I was glad I did. This is an incredible album, full of all kinds of Uncle Tupelo rip-offs, and Ryan even faking a southern accent on some songs (early version of Excuse Me I'll Break My Own Heart notably) which makes Too Drunk To Dream, an otherwise excellent song, unbearable. The album has its share of straightforward rock numbers with a surprisingly raspy Ryan, and a bunch of mournful acoustic songs that all kind of sound the same. Despite the homogeny, even at this stage Ryan's vocals are too melty and gorgeous to resist... check out Mining Town or Desperate Ain't Lonely. Phil's songs are even much better on this album, providing one of the best moments with the incredibly Gram Parsonsesque acoustic stomper What May Seem Like Love, and the otherwise agreeable Top Dollar.

Sure, it's not without it's flaws, but it's the first masterpiece Ryan ever made and it certainly stands up with the rest of his catalogue. Highly recommended.

Best Track: If He Can't Have You

First reactions to Faithless Street:

I love mandolin, but the more I listen to music which uses it, the more I realize it's a deceptively simple instrument - anyone, seemingly, can pluck out a tune on one, but to do it well requires a whole other level of expertise. Which is a long way of saying that while I am finding this record more accessible the first time than you did, Heretix, sometimes the mando sounds more like something off a Hooters record than, say, Bill Monroe or David Grisman.

The same could be said of the pedal steel (except that it's supposedly a bitch to learn, at all) as well. I see your point about the Uncle Tupelo-ripoff quality, yet I will likely end up listening to this more than I do UT. Ryan is really into that Farrar vocal sound - kinda remarkable, since he's a good singer in his own voice. When he gos for that rasp, on something like"if he Can't Have You" I like this stuff much more.

The one thing lacking in both this and RFD is a more prominent Caitlin Cary presence. Her solo records don't approach the greatness of Ryan's, but I've enjoyed them all.

I think I'll have to eat my words about the "punk underpinning" on RFD - that hardcore/hoedown tempo and sound is missing here, where there's maybe one too many drinking-myself-to-death ballads.

I never really bought the Eagles comparisons to Ryan's solo work, but this original version of "Excuse Me If I Break My Own Heart Tonight" bugs me exactly the same way "Lyin' Eyes" bugs me. A little too weepy for my taste. I like the punchier, poppier Stranger's Almanac version better.

Summation: Like Pneumonia, which I really, really did not get into, this is hit or miss. Some of it's good and some of it will grow on me. Some of it I may never listen to again, however.

Faithless Street is just alright for me, dog. On one hand, it's a solid, cohesive record. On the other, it's a little bit of a boring blur where no truly fantastic songs stick out. Eagles comparisons aside, I've always liked "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight". "Midway Park" is a pretty great opening track and also works as kind of a decent introduction to Ryan. The Baseball Park Sessions stuff is quality. I always liked "Empty Baseball Park" but I'm pretty sure that's just the alcoholic record geek/film buff/baseball fan in me loving the lyrics: "Have a drink at your favorite bar till dark/Stumble into empty baseball parks/Strike one and strike two...I guess we're both out/Stumble past the record store/End up at the movies". Anyway, it's pretty telling that a good portion of the highlights from this remastered version are basically Stranger's Almanac songs (EWIBMOHT, 16 Days, Yesterday's News).

Strangers Almanac



The End.

Given your tastes, I'm honestly a little surprised you're not a big fan of Faithless Street, Montana. Seems up your alley.

Faithless Street is ok but "Mining Town" is perfect

my personal favorite is Pneumonia. That's a solid record.

Stranger's Almanac
(1997, rem. 2008)



Original 1997 release


2008 Deluxe Edition -- EXCELLENT bonus material -- a must for fans


01. Inn Town
02. Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight
03. Yesterday's News
04. 16 Days
05. Everything I Do
06. Houses On The Hill
07. Turn Around
08. Dancing With The Women At The Bar
09. Waiting to Derail
10. Avenues
11. Losering
12. Somebody Remembers The Rose
13. Not Home Anymore

Deluxe bonus tracks:

Disc 1:
14. Houses On the Hill - (live)
15. Nurse With the Pills - (live)
16. I Don't Care What You Think About Me - (live)
17. Somebody Remembers the Rose - (live)
18. Turn Around - (live)

Disc 2
1. Indian Gown - (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
2. 16 Days demo (Baseball Park sessions)*
3. Somebody Remembers the Rose demo -
4. (Baseball Park sessions)*
5. Avenues demo
6. Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight demo
7. (Baseball Park sessions)*
8. Houses on the Hill early version (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
9. My Heart Is Broken (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
10. I Still Miss Someone demo*
11. Kiss & Make-Up*
12. Barn's On Fire (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
13. Dancing with the Women at the Bar early version*
14. originally titled "The Strip" (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
15. Dreams (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
16. Breathe (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
17. Wither, I'm A Flower
18. Luxury Liner (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
19. Theme for a Trucker
20. Streets of Sirens (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
21. Turn Around early version (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
22. 10 Seconds Till The End Of The World (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
23. Ticket Time early version (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
24. The Rain Won't Help You When It's Over early version (Barn's on Fire sessions)*
* previously unreleased
(a lot of this stuff has been bootlegged already, but never in better quality than here)

Well, I guess this is where it starts.. the true jumping off point for Ryan, his first great album (even though I disagree). Despite the fact that it's admittedly more focused and certainly less derivative than Faithless Street, this album has always been maddeningly inconsistent and frankly kind of vanilla for me. It has some GREAT moments, especially the incredible opening 6 tracks, but stuff like Turn Around, Waiting to Derail, and to a lesser extent Losering are all repetitive and uninspired, so monotonous that Ryan and band sound bored just performing them. Other songs like Somebody Remembers The Rose and Avenues seem like Ryan at his most by-the-numbers.

But that first half. Man, are those some goddamned good songs. Inn Town is as great as mounrful Whiskeytown gets, with a clever pun as the title/refrain; Excuse Me... is now a HUGE, joyous (sounding) song, with ecstatic pedal steel and a neat vocal turn from Alejandro Escovedo sounding uncannily like Tom Petty. Yesterday's News is Ryan's Replacements influence hitting its logical and eventual peak, while 16 Days is a perfect stab at mid-90s radio-rock a la Counting Crows. Without a doubt the biggest left turn on the record is Everything I Do, a bluesy, meandering number with a minimalist sentiment and a killer dual-guitar breakdown.

And it wouldn't be Whiskeytown without blatant country-cliché-pandering, which is done masterfully (and much less awkwardly than Faithless Street) with Houses On The Hill and Dancing With The Women At The Bar; the former a syrupy acoustic number and the latter a pseudo-dark "epic" about, well, dancing with women at the bar. The album ends on a hesitant note, with the droning number Not Home Anymore; but it drones in a much less plodding, bored fashion than the other songs, and the leaves the album feeling kind of unfinished, or at least whatever central issues that existed are left unresolved.

And, for whatever reason (desparate and confounding cash cow grab, for sure), it was re-released this year in a 2-disc deluxe edition; the first disc containing the album and some live-in-studio tracks done for a radio session. These live tracks are basically more open-sounding versions of the album tracks, the only notable number being the amazing Nurse With The Pills, a song that was amazingly never released throughout Whiskeytown's career.

The second disc is the real meat, with all kinds of demos and rarities; some bootlegged (Dreams, Indian Gown, most of the Barn's on Fire session) and some genuinely breathtaking, never-before-circulated acoustic demos... anyone who likes this album should definitely check out the demos.

Next up: Some bootlegs! Pre-Pneumonia bootlegs including Drunken Confessions and Those Weren't The Days.

best ryan adams lyric, by a lot:

He's hanging out drinking beer with his BROTHER-IN-LAW

love stranger's almanac. love, love, love.

stranger's almanac really is tops.

Awesome album. 'Everything I Do' is the best song by that title that anyone with the letters r-y-a-n a-d-a-m-s in their name has ever written.

Took me a minute there.

"i'm a fast talkin, hell raisin son of a bitch, i'm a sinner and i know how to fight"

great great RA lyrics

Weird thing, listening to Stranger's Almanac again:

"Yesterday's News" and "Waiting to Derail" seem to point toward the direction he'd take on Rock'n'Roll.

Alejandro Escovedo guests on this album - love his voice.

Not sice the Dead has an artist so frequently used the word "rose" in song titles and lyrics.

Good stuff. I could hang myself listening to this record, but I don't mean that as an insult. It'd just be a good soundtrack.

Strange factoid. The original release of this was only available in here as an import and cost me a small fortune (Ok €35) while this years DE got a general release and was available for €19.99.
Love the whole thing. In fact I love it so much that I have to go to track 1, disk 1 and rarely have the time to make it all the way to disk 2.

Must work on my time managment

i searched a long time for a good recording of "Dreams" and didnt find it until the SA Deluxe Edition.


"Waiting to Derail" is story of my life

If I'm going too fast I'll certainly slow down... but..

Drunken Confessions
(bootleg comp, studio/radio/demos, recorded 1994-1997)



1. Drank Like A River - WT
2. Too Drunk To Dream - WT
3. Fuckin' Bastards (a/k/a Bastards I Used To Know / Lucky Me / This Old City) - WT
4. Take Your Guns To Town - WT
5. The Great Divide - WT
6. Mining Town - WT
7. Nervous Breakdown - WT
8. Pawnshop Ain't No Place For A Wedding Ring - WT
9. Macon, Georgia County Line - WT
10. Western Star - WT
11. Jacksonville, City Of Lights - WT
12. Young Fair Mary (a/k/a Young Fair Maiden) - WT
13. The Bed That I Bought - WT
14. Movin' On Up (The Jefferson's Theme) - WT
15. Steal A Car - WT
16. Lucky Star - The Skylarks
17. Texas - The Skylarks
18. Lay Your Hand On The Coffin - Ryan Adams
19. Barter Town - Ryan Adams
20. Messengers Of God (a/k/a Faithless Street) - Ryan Adams

A mish-mash of radio sessions, rare tracks, and demos, this is a bit of a bumpy ride but essential for fans of early Whiskeytown. Contains several tracks unavailable in other forms, notably Bastards I Used To Know, The Bed That I bought, Steal A Car, The Great Divide, and Texas by ultra-obscure Ryan group The Skylarks. (The Skylarks track is actually a cover of a song by a pre-Ryan Whiskeytown band, The Patty Duke Syndrome -- demos which will be uploaded much later in this thread).

As for the familiar tracks, the radio session versions are generally excellent even if the sound quality varies. Totally dig the version of Too Drunk To Dream here, much much improved over the hokey Faithless Street Version.

Ryan's sense of humour is well on display here, with playful song titles (Fuckin' Bastards/Bastards I Used To Know, etc), ultra-melodrama (Lay Your Hand On The Coffin, a droney masterpiece, The Great Divide, and cheeky covers of The Jeffersons Theme (Whiskeytown) and Madonna's Lucky Star (The Skylarks)).

Disc is nice and varied too, as it completely encompasses this period of Ryan, and NOT just Whiskeytown; you get Whiskeytown, Whiskeytown demos, solo Ryan demos (!) and even the aforementioned super-obscure Skylarks. I think The Bed That I Bought is more of a solo Ryan demo even though it is attributed to Whiskeytown..but whatever the true artist, an excellent song it remains.

You know, I always thought of this bootleg as inconsequential but after looking at it clearly and describing it so in-depth it really is an awesome little disc. Totally recommended, especially for a bootleg.

Now you're talkin'
Thanks for this...I have a pretty hefty RA bootleg collection but am a bit light on the WT and before stuff.
Can you give a heads up on just how many unreleased RA albums are coming up in this tread?

Slow down, Heretix. This thread's inspired me to listen to Ryan Adams for the first time in a while, but I haven't really had time to do that yet! Also, let's hope this thread inspires discussion about RA's albums and not just end up being a fish-RA-bootlegs-from-Heretix thread.

As a casual fan, I need to be schooled - thanks for this

I'm enjoying this thread. I love Ryan Adams. My only quibble with him is that I think he could use a better editor.
Rock and Roll was a pretty great double album, but it would have been a killer single album.

Rock'n'Roll was a single album - single CD, anyway. Love is Hell got split into two EPs. Do you mean Cold Roses? I'd be in agreement with you, there.

This much Whiskeytown this fast has proved almost too much. I never owned more that Stranger's... and Pneumonia, and while i really liked Stranger's, the other did nothing for me.

I dunno, this may sound weird, but work with me on this.

For me, alt country/country-rock is about like the '90s "Swing revival" groups - some good stuff in there, but most of it just reminds me of why I love Duke Ellington. Listening to all this Whiskytown reminds me why I don't have more Uncle Tupelo or early Wilco or Son Volt - it's all decent; some of it extraordinary, but most of it still just sends me running for Gram Parsons or Hank Sr. or Hank Snow or Webb Pierce or even Dwight Yoakam or Townes Van Zandt. Little of it is really awful, but there is a blurry, samey-sameness to it that makes me think I will spend more time in my library wth the classics than learning to love some of this.

hmm.. not sure what to do. I won't post another album until at least thursday, to give everyone time to digest. BUT..

Starting at this point do you want me to go in the order of Official Albums, and then save unreleased albums for later? Or do you want to do a complete chronology, including unreleased albums in their rightful place (which would look something like Those Weren't The Days -> Forever Valentine -> Fucker -> Pneumonia -> Exile On Franklin St. -> Destroyer -> Heartbreaker -> Q Division -> Pinkhearts #1 -> Suicide Handbook -> Gold -> 48 Hours etc! That's just 1997-2001!!), to completely cover Ryan's development? I was planning to go with the latter option but I realized it would take a long time to get to stuff that most people are familiar with, so I thought I'd ask.

Also, a caveat for people who haven't downloaded Drunken Confessions yet, the quality varies throughout -- nothing is an audience recording or anything, but don't expect top-notch SQ either.

do it chrono, especially if you are posting the "bootleg" material.

I guess my preference would be for the former, but I'm hanging in, regardless, so I think it's probably mostly up to you.

No way - Cold Roses is his best album by far. As for it being a double - because you can burn both discs onto one CD and still have room to spare.

I also don't agree that he needs an editor. Let him release as much as he wants. People will have different favourite tracks to others. And besides, if he had no editor, we'd have plenty more albums to choose from...

He has never come close to topping Gold, and Cold Roses sure isn't the place to start.

I know exactly what you mean, but I found especially with Whiskeytown, the more I listened to it, I just started to fall in love with it. Faithless Street especially blurs together, 21 tracks of samey-sounding Uncle Tupelo ripoffs and drunken acoustic dirges. But the songs do reveal themselves. Same with Pneumonia, it's a bit of a homogenized mass of slick production, but it's actually quite a varied and wholly interesting album. As for the issue of authenticity or worthwhile as compared to the genre's progenitors (or at least those who inspired the genre), I don't necessarily agree with your approximation of the fad 90s swing revival because at least these musicians were somewhat unique and had something interesting to say and play, rather than just completely rip off the old, elder statesmen.

But certainly I could see how Whiskeytown can seem really boring and unoriginal at first, I felt the same way. But lately I've been listening to more WT than solo Ryan. Hope the rest of the WT stuff to come doesn't kill you before the solo RA.

And at this point I think I'm going to include the unreleased albums, because it's really an interesting way to go through the catalogue. But I'll wait and see if anyone else chimes in (because right now it's 1-1).