In an era when sampling and recording software render the art of songwriting more and more rare (and, in some quarters, borderline obsolete), a new Ryan Adams collection is a major event. So it is no small news – in my world – to learn that Ryan Adams will release his ninth album, Easy Tiger, on Tuesday.
Adams would have been a major artist at the height of the 1970s singer-songwriter era; that he is a major artist but a minor star now make him all the more valuable. Few musicians have his knowledge of American music; even fewer can actually work convincingly in so many genres. For me, personally, Adams is my favorite country artist of the last five years AND my favorite rock artist AND my favorite singer-songwriter. Some writers have criticized him for working in so many genres, but I’ve never understood why. In fact, I think one of the great virtues of Ryan Adams is his subtle but implicit ability to connect the dots between the various genres of American music in such a lush and soulful way.
A few tracks from the new album are posted on the Ryan Adams page over at myspace. They’re all great, but I find myself returning most often to “Two,” and the gentle, delicate vocal that opens the first verse. Other than Smokey Robinson, can anyone name an American male vocalist who sings a ballad with a more sincere and gentle vulnerability? (Ok, maybe Eugene Record on the Chi-Lites “Oh Girl). It’s an astonishing performance.
Reports from concerts indicate that Adams is concentrating more on his singing these days. In a lovely but brief City Pages review of his recent set at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, Andrea Myers reports:
Adams sat in line with the rest of the musicians and fidgeted while he sang, unsure of what to do with his hands in absence of his guitar. “I sometimes wish I was in Iron Maiden,” Adams joked between songs. “Who could get nervous playing ‘Aces High’?”
It’s a fair point, made even more poignant by the fact that Adams is an avowed “hair metal” fan.