‘Let It Ride’ – ryanadams.com
by Mike Conklin
‘Let It Ride’ – ryanadams.com
I spend more time defending Ryan Adams than I should ever feel comfortable admitting in a magazine with a circulation of 72,000. I don’t know how it happens, but I constantly find myself in conversation with people who get off on talking shit about the guy, and for some reason, it bugs me. I actually start feeling bad for a man who’s sold tons of records, been on Saturday Night Live, will go down as one of the most important figures in the alt-country boom, and who, until recently anyway, was giving it to Parker Posey. We should all have it so rough.
The truth is, despite all the good fortune that’s been thrown his way, I feel like there’s something kind of pathetic about him. He tries as hard as he possibly can to pull off the Paul Westerberg lovable-loser thing, and I guess in some weird way, it’s working, because I’m sitting here wasting even more time discussing him — but he lacks Westerberg’s impenetrable, badass exterior. Sure, his hair is unruly, and he seems to hate being photographed without a cigarette or a beer, but he’s far too self-aware for any of it to be considered genuine. It’s simple, really: there’s no faster way to convince people that you’re not cool and detached than by standing around screaming, “Hey! Look at me! I’m cool and detached!”
All that said, I still can’t hate the guy. I’d normally harbor ill will for people who pull that kind of stuff, but with him, I’d be more inclined to laugh it off and give him a big fat noogie.
Why? Because underneath all this nonsense, he’s one of the best songwriters alive. Now, I admit, that’s not always an easy case to make, because he’s released some terribly mediocre material. But he’s also released more great material — even if you have to dig a little to find it — than most people ever will.
As usual, he has a new record set for release, and this one, Cold Roses, is a double album, so I’m sure most of the reviews will say it’d have been better as a single disc, and they’ll probably be right. Rest assured, though: there will be moments of brilliance, not unlike the album’s first single, ‘Let It Ride’, which is currently streaming on Adams’ website. It’s a return to form of sorts, with Adams finally ditching the Big Rock thing and getting back to the country sound he’s always seemed most comfortable with. If this track is any indication, fans of Heartbreaker will be pleased, especially to find lines like “Twenty-seven years of nothing but failures and promises that I couldn’t keep,” which are exactly the kind of honest, self-deprecating lines that make it ok to ignore all the stupid, stupid shit he does. Mike Conklin
I spend more time defending Ryan Adams than I should ever feel comfortable admitting in a magazine with a circulation of 72,000. I don’t know how it happens, but I constantly find myself in conversation with people who get off on talking shit about the guy, and for some reason, it bugs me. I actually start feeling bad for a man who’s sold tons of records, been on Saturday Night Live, will go down as one of the most important figures in the alt-country boom, and who, until recently anyway, was giving it to Parker Posey. We should all have it so rough.
The truth is, despite all the good fortune that’s been thrown his way, I feel like there’s something kind of pathetic about him. He tries as hard as he possibly can to pull off the Paul Westerberg lovable-loser thing, and I guess in some weird way, it’s working, because I’m sitting here wasting even more time discussing him — but he lacks Westerberg’s impenetrable, badass exterior. Sure, his hair is unruly, and he seems to hate being photographed without a cigarette or a beer, but he’s far too self-aware for any of it to be considered genuine. It’s simple, really: there’s no faster way to convince people that you’re not cool and detached than by standing around screaming, “Hey! Look at me! I’m cool and detached!”
All that said, I still can’t hate the guy. I’d normally harbor ill will for people who pull that kind of stuff, but with him, I’d be more inclined to laugh it off and give him a big fat noogie.
Why? Because underneath all this nonsense, he’s one of the best songwriters alive. Now, I admit, that’s not always an easy case to make, because he’s released some terribly mediocre material. But he’s also released more great material — even if you have to dig a little to find it — than most people ever will.
As usual, he has a new record set for release, and this one, Cold Roses, is a double album, so I’m sure most of the reviews will say it’d have been better as a single disc, and they’ll probably be right. Rest assured, though: there will be moments of brilliance, not unlike the album’s first single, ‘Let It Ride’, which is currently streaming on Adams’ website. It’s a return to form of sorts, with Adams finally ditching the Big Rock thing and getting back to the country sound he’s always seemed most comfortable with. If this track is any indication, fans of Heartbreaker will be pleased, especially to find lines like “Twenty-seven years of nothing but failures and promises that I couldn’t keep,” which are exactly the kind of honest, self-deprecating lines that make it ok to ignore all the stupid, stupid shit he does. Mike Conklin
