Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams Live (2006)

Ryan Adams (* 5. November 1974 in Jacksonville , North Carolina as David Ryan Adams ) is an American singer-songwriter . It varies in style between rock , country and folk , but is often assigned to alternative country .

Private life

From 2009 to 2015 Adams was married to the singer Mandy Moore .

Career

Beginnings

After unsuccessful attempts as a painter and author of dramatic pieces, Adams devoted himself entirely to music. He began his career as the front man and singer of the band Whiskeytown . Before that he played in the band The Patty Duke Syndrome . After the Whiskeytown period, he started a surprisingly successful solo career. After the commercial success of the album "Heartbreaker" , which was released on the independent label Bloodshot , he signed a sub-label of the major Universal called Lost Highway specializing in alternative country .

Beginning of solo success

There he released the album "Gold" in 2001 . This was celebrated worldwide, both by critics and by many musician colleagues. At the same time, the album sold extremely well, which sparked a growing interest in Adams. However, the sales success was not without sacrifices: "Gold" was created under the pressure of the new label to become successful, which also made it musically commercial. Adams solved this problem at least in part by means of vinyl pressing, which on the fourth page came up with five (on the CD album only appeared as a limited edition) far less commercial pieces, which made the overall album much more vivid. After “Gold” , Adams recorded 5 more albums in 2001: “48 Hours”, “The Suicide Handbook”, “Pinkhearts 1 & 2” & “Swedish Sessions”. These albums have not been released (until today). Accordingly, various myths entwine around them. Lost Highway didn't release the albums because they feared they wouldn't sell well.

In 2002 the album "Demolition" was released , which in principle is not an independent album. Rather, it is a summary of the unpublished records. Musically, it marks the turning point in his musical career so far. On the one hand it contains several rocker songs like "Nuclear" or "Starting To Hurt" , and furthermore Adams' voice is already developing noticeably into the head voice , which shapes the character of all the albums that have followed so far. Nevertheless, the album earned rather reluctant approval from critics and fans.

Rock'n'Roll and a stage accident

The only moderate commercial success of "Demolition" meant that Adams was under pressure from the record company. At the end of 2003, the album "Rock'n Roll" was released , which he supposedly recorded within just a week. The name alone signaled the “positive”, very rocking style required by the record company. However, the high expectations of the label were not fully met. Although the single "So Alive" sold quite well, the album could not quite build on the success of "Gold". Every two months the EPs “Love Is Hell Pt. 1 " and " Love Is Hell Pt. 2 " . The record company initially did not want to bring these EPs onto the market, each with the length of an original album, but Adams had secured the right to release them as “consideration” for the stylistic compromise on the album. "Love Is Hell Pt.1" and "Love Is Hell Pt.2" were not very successful commercially, but received significantly better reviews than the album itself. In contrast to "Rock'n Roll", there were - besides the rocking - some say: sloppy - songs also quieter, fragile, sometimes melancholy pieces again. All in all, they were stylistically linked to “Gold”. One of the best-known songs on the album is the Oasis cover “ Wonderwall ”, which gained great fame through the American series OC, California .

In addition, the album "We Are Fuck You" was 2003, the hardcore - punk band The Finger published, he and his friend Jesse Malin had founded and when he named Warren Peace (dt war and peace pun in War and Peace.) Played guitar. This album was a summary of the two EPs "We Are Fuck You" and "Punk's Dead Let's Fuck" that the band had released.

In 2004 the pieces from the two “Love Is Hell” EPs (apart from two bonus tracks) were released on their own album. Initially, no further records were released because Adams broke his wrist while on tour to "Rock'n Roll" when he fell from the stage under the strong influence of whiskey at the Liverpool concert (January 2004). As a result, he had to cancel the rest of the concerts on his European tour.

The time with The Cardinals

In 2005 the double album "Cold Roses" was released , which Adams recorded with his newly formed band " The Cardinals ". It represented a return to country / rock and was highly praised by fans and critics. The album became very successful and its sales figures finally satisfied the record company. The 2005 European tour was canceled because Adams suffered from a severe ear infection. In the fall of 2005, “Jacksonville City Nights” was released , which should be called “September”. This album was even more country- heavy than its predecessor and received consistently good reviews.

At the beginning of 2006, in the USA in 2005, “29” was released . This album dates back to 2004 and was produced by Ethan Johns , who had also made the production for "Gold" and "Heartbreaker". Unlike “Jacksonville…” and “Cold Roses” this was a complete solo work without Adam's band “The Cardinals”. It was partly similar to “Love is hell”, but again had a lot of country elements. The album received a mixed reception from the critics.

Adams had released three albums in one year, but only the first was commercially successful. In 2006 he produced the album Songbird of the great old man of the outlaw country , Willie Nelson , for which he wrote the song Blue Hotel and also recorded the instrumental accompaniment with the Cardinals.

On June 22, 2007 Adams released his ninth studio album "Easy Tiger" , which brought him his highest international chart positions and approached the success of his album Gold . The album was also received rather positively by the critics, especially in the USA. Musically, the album offers a wide range of Adams' work, in addition to rock songs such as' Halloweenhead ', country rock songs and piano ballads were also represented.

On October 23, 2007, an EP called "Follow the Lights" was released , which included songs from Adams' older albums and new songs recorded live in the studio. The EP comprises a total of 7 tracks and was not released in Europe. In return, however, an EP was released on November 9, 2007, which contains the song "Everybody Knows" from the album "Easy Tiger" as an additional song. The rest of the songs are the same as on "Follow the Lights".

On October 28, 2008 the album "Cardinology" was released. Since 2008 the band has no longer called itself "Ryan Adams and the Cardinals", but simply "The Cardinals", in order to allow for the equal collaboration in writing and playing music.

Cardinals exit and today

Adams announced on January 14th, 2009 that he would be leaving his band after the final show on March 20th. Due to his serious illness in the inner ear ( Menière's disease ), he also decided not to go on tour in the future.

Ryan Adams' second collection of extra-musical poetry "Hello Sunshine" was released in autumn 2009.

In March 2010 - Ryan Adams released his new studio album Orion , which he himself classifies as Metal . In the meantime he has released an album called "III / IV", recorded with the Cardinals in 2006. He also announced that he would release another previously recorded album called Blackhole .

In the summer and autumn of 2011 he was on a European tour.

Also in 2011 his 13th studio album "Ashes & Fire" was released. The album was highly praised by critics, it was his "best solo album in a decade", the music sounded "like wide land and clear air, which makes Ryan Adams look all the younger." Musically, too, the album is a return to Adams' early style, with the sparse use of the head voice and a strong country influence. The critic Jamie Crossan points out the similarity with "Heartbreaker" (2000), the magazine Rolling Stone adds that the "pain" of the singing now contains a "prospect of relief". Commercially, "Ashes & Fire" is one of Adams' most successful albums.

In 2013, Ryan Adams formed a punk rock band called "Pornography" with Johnny T. Yerington and Leah Hennessey. A corresponding album "7 Minutes in Heaven" has already been recorded.

After his performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 2013, he announced that he would record another album with a new band. The album does not yet have a name.

The album from 2014 entitled with his name was singled out by the music critics of the Süddeutsche Zeitung as “Singer-Songwriter Album of the Year”. The musician had previously got his Menière's disease under control with the help of a hypnotherapist and medical marijuana.

In September 2015, Adams released a full cover of the Taylor Swift album of the same name in 1989 .

Adams announced three albums for 2019. The first, entitled Big Colors, was due out in April. It was not published after the New York Times reported allegations of emotional and sexual abuse against him, including his ex-wife, Mandy Moore. Adams denied the allegations.

Discography

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

gold   DE 51 01/28/2002 (9 weeks)   UK 20th  gold 10/06/2001 (15 weeks)   US 59 10/13/2001 (9 weeks) Demolition   DE 83 11/18/2002 (1 week)   UK 22nd  silver 05/10/2002 (3 weeks)   US 28 10/12/2002 (5 weeks) Love is Hell   UK 68 05/15/2004 (1 week) Rock'n roll   DE 71 11/17/2003 (1 week)   UK 41 11/15/2003 (2 weeks)   US 33 11/22/2003 (4 weeks) Cold roses   DE 39 05/16/2005 (4 weeks)   UK 20th 05/14/2005 (3 weeks) Jacksonville City Nights   DE 72 10/10/2005 (1 week)   UK 59 10/08/2005 (1 week) 29   DE 57 01/23/2006 (2 weeks)   AT 73 01/20/2006 (1 week)   UK 91 December 31, 2005 (1 week)   US 144 07/01/2006 (3 weeks) Easy tiger   DE 63 07/16/2007 (1 week)   CH 60 07/08/2007 (1 week)   UK 18th 07/07/2007 (2 weeks)   US 7th 07/14/2007 (11 weeks) Cardinology   DE 98 11/17/2008 (1 week)   UK 41 11/08/2008 (1 week) Ashes & Fire   DE 34 10/21/2011 (1 week)   AT 45 10/21/2011 (2 weeks)   CH 38 23/10/2011 (1 week)   UK 9 10/22/2011 (4 weeks)   US 7th October 29, 2011 (7 weeks) Ryan Adams   DE 30th 09/19/2014 (2 weeks)   AT 40 09/19/2014 (1 week)   CH 34 09/14/2014 (2 weeks)   UK 6th 09/20/2014 (5 weeks)   US 4th 09/27/2014 (7 weeks) Live at Carnegie Hall   US 125 05/09/2015 (1 week) Ten Songs from Live at Carnegie Hall   US 113 06/27/2015 (1 week) 1989   CH 58 11/08/2015 (1 week)   UK 19th 10/01/2015 (5 weeks)   US 7th 08/10/2015 (10 weeks) Heartbreaker   UK 56  silver 05/19/2016 (1 week)   US 140 05/28/2016 (1 week) Prisoner   DE 16 02/24/2017 (2 weeks)   AT 23 03.03.2017 (1 week)   CH 19th 02/26/2017 (2 weeks)   UK 3 02.03.2017 (3 weeks)   US 8th 03/11/2017 (3 weeks)

EPs

Love Is Hell Pt. 1   UK 62 11/15/2003 (1 week)   US 78 11/22/2003 (1 week) Love Is Hell Pt. 2   US 171 12/27/2003 (1 week) iTunes session   US 70 05/12/2012 (1 week) Vampires   US 156 11/15/2014 (1 week)

Singles

New York New York   UK 53 12/08/2001 (2 weeks) Answering Bell   UK 39 04/20/2002 (2 weeks) Nuclear   UK 37 09/28/2002 (2 weeks) So Alive   UK 21st 01/31/2004 (2 weeks) Wonderwall   UK 27 07/10/2004 (2 weeks)

With whiskey town

• 1995: Faithless Street
• 1996: Strangers Almanac
• 1997: Rural Free Deliverance
• 2001: Pneumonia (recorded 1999)

solo

• 2000: Heartbreaker
• 2001: gold
• 2002: Demolition
• 2003: Rock n Roll
• 2003: Love Is Hell Vol. 1 + 2
• 2005: 29
• 2010: Orion
• 2011: Ashes and Fire
• 2012: Live After Deaf
• 2014: 1984
• 2014: Ryan Adams
• 2015: Live at Carnegie Hall
• 2015: 1989
• 2017: Prisoner

With The Cardinals

• 2005: Cold Roses
• 2005: Jacksonville City Nights
• 2007: Easy Tiger
• 2007: Follow the Lights (EP)
• 2008: Cardinology
• 2010: III / IV

Others

• 2003: We Are Fuck You (with The Finger)
• 2013: 7 Minutes in Heaven (with Pornography )

swell

1. ↑ Ryan Adams tells FL "I'm not quitting" . Faster Louder. January 20, 2009. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 24, 2009. 
2. ↑ Ryan Adams quits The Cardinals , NME . January 14, 2009. 
3. ↑ Album Review: Ryan Adams - 'Ashes & Fire' . NME. October 7, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
4. ↑ Ryan Adams celebrates his own resurrection . welt.de. October 17, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
5. ↑ Ryan Adams . Rolling Stone. October 6, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
6. ↑ Pornography (Ryan Adams) . March 18, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
7. ↑ Ryan Adams to preview new album at first full-band show in four years . March 12, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
8. ↑ ^{a b} record cabinet - our albums of the year , Süddeutsche Zeitung from December 15, 2014, accessed December 16, 2014
9. ^ Ryan Adams Announces 1989 Release Date. Retrieved September 25, 2015 . 
10. ↑ Abuse allegations: Ryan Adams album release stopped . Spiegel online , February 15, 2019; Ryan Adams comes up after allegations of abuse: "I have a lot to say" . musikexpress.de , July 2, 2019, both times on March 8, 2020.
11. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
12. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

• Website for Ryan Adams (English)
• Ryan Adams at Universal Music (German)
• Ryan Adams at laut.de
• Ryan Adams at Musik-Sammler.de
• Review of Ryan Adams & The Cardinals Follow The Lights EP on monoton.at ( Memento from October 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive )