Two years ago when troubadour Ryan Adams had his first solo performance at the historic Ryman Auditorium, some of the press called it a vile shamble of a show.
The press cited reasons such as: Adams throwing a fan out of the building for requesting Bryan Adams songs (Get it? Bryan Adams?), singing one of his best songs in a Cookie Monster voice, and generally acting like a bratty, belligerent, chemically imbalanced little cretin.
However, fans praised Adams for his humor, indescribably gorgeous songs and sheer talent and musicality during his first solo performance.
After Adams made his first appearance in two years at the Ryman Auditorium, I caught up with him and the guitarist in his backing band The Cardinals, J.P. Bowersock.
I got to speak with Bowersock first and asked him why Adams was not playing any songs from his Rock n’ Roll album. Bowersock told me it was basically Adams giving his label the finger, because they would not release Love Is Hell so he recorded Rock n’ Roll with his own credit card and held it over the label’s head until they agreed to release Love Is Hell.
Bowersock also told me that Adams was unable to play some of the songs because of the wrist injury he sustained earlier last year when he fell from a stage in Europe. Bowersock said that those songs did not just include songs from Rock n’ Roll, but songs from all of his records. He also divulged some previously unknown information about the upcoming Ryan Adams and The Cardinals album.
Bowersock said that they have recorded half of the album and will work on the rest of it through January, and then they will try to go on a few mini tours in February. Ryan previously played 15 of the new songs during a show I attended in Atlanta on Sept. 15, 2004.
“I wrote a ton of songs when I broke my wrist a while back, and I said I was going to play them all at one show. It might as well be this one,” Adams said.
The new songs seem to be a mixture of his work from alt-country hit Gold and the whimsically bluesy Love Is Hell.
Bowersock noted that the album was more of a collective band effort that we have ever seen on any previous Ryan Adams record. Bowersock seemed to be enthused about the new record and said, “This could possibly top everything that Ryan Adams has put out.”
Later on I caught up with Adams at his private end-of-tour party. Although the press seems to portray Adams as being an infantile scamp, he was more that happy to talk with me, sign an autograph and take a picture and came off as more shy than infantile.
Adams apologized profusely for not coming out of the back, where he was recording a spot for an upcoming DVD, to talk with me earlier. Adams was more than occasionally gracious to me for coming to the show. He said he was excited about the tour and was even more excited about the new record.
Adams said that he hoped to come back as soon as the record was released in March 2005. Adams went to say that he had written so many new songs for the record, but a lot of them will not make the final cut.
“I always see something I write and know that I can outdo it,” Adams said.
Earlier that night when Adams performed, he left no room for the press to complain about his show this time. Adams returned to the hallowed Ryman Auditorium with a phenomenal band, including slide guitar goddess Cindy Cashdollar, Nashville-based drummer Brad Pemberton, The Strokes’ guitar sensei J.P. Bowersock and Catherine Mopper on bass. Having the full band with him made it easier for the shy Adams not to freak out and overcompensate with between-song banter this time. This allowed the songs to carry the night, which made for an astounding set.
Adams opened with the Dylan-esque “To Be Young” (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High). He then followed with “My Winding Wheel,” which accentuated his ability to blend simplistic chords with beautiful melodies and lyrics.
After that, he went through his catalogue, chronologically highlighting songs from each record other that the aforementioned Rock n’ Roll. Among the notables were “Oh My Sweet Carolina,” a slower tempo version of “Rescue Blues” with Adams on piano, and an amusing rendition of “Tennessee Sucks” which garnered a boo from one fan. Adams then retorted, “You can boo all you want, but you are still down there and I am still up here.”
He ended his over two-hour set with a maudlin cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone.”
Adams was at the top of his game all night. His singing was unsullied, and his musicianship was skillful, to say the least. He kept the between-song babbling to a minimum through the night, although he did take a bit of time to talk about the historical significance of the Ryman Auditorium and how much it means to him to be able to play there.
“Bringing you down, can’t bring you down,” he sang in “Chin Up, Cheer Up,” and it is likely that nothing can bring Adams down if he stays the course he is on.

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