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Ryan Adams
Kendall Café, Boston, Ma

September 29 & 30
Hell Country Series

During his tenure as frontman of Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams spun quote after quote full of the punk attitude many hoped his band would bring to the masses. On the Bloodshot Records Web site, he said the official description of the band should say, “Whiskeytown suck and are basically a drunken hype machine and that it only works because I’m sexy”. The bio from the band’s old page on the now-defunct Outpost Records site claimed Adams had at some point “buried himself up to the neck in North Carolina dirt and then demanded to have his hair done by a professional”. But Adams’ most surprising statement yet has been made on his new album, Heartbreaker.

In the intimate setting of the Kendall Café, Adams the abrasive punk was nowhere to be seen. In his place, Adams the world-weary, witty storyteller arrived. He walked through the crowd to take the stage, sitting on stage with a beat red acoustic, a collection of harmonicas, and a notebook full of new material, which made up much of the music for both nights. He asked the crowd’s permission to do new material, not on Heartbreaker, saying “I’ll probably fuck it up real bad. It’s sort of like launching a ship that might be full of holes.” With that, he launched into “Abigail”, the sort of laid back folk beauty he’s become very good at writing and performing.

It’s a leap into new territory, probably more for the audience than for Adams, who is, by all accounts, an incredibly prolific songwriter. He did 20 songs the first night, and 15 the second night, covering only one Whiskeytown tune (“Dancing With the Women at the Bar”), and eight or nine songs from Heartbreaker. In fact, after the first show, Adams went to the Q Division studios in Boston to lay down a few ideas, and recorded some of the tunes he performed over the weekend. By the time most people get to hear this stuff, Adams probably will have moved on to something else.

The highlight of both nights was probably “Oh My Sweet Carolina”, sung as a duet with Emmylou Harris on the album. At the Kendall, the drifter that narrates the song sounded more alone, more ragged, and a bit leaner than the one the record. It was a defining moment for everything Adams can do as a solo performer – captivate a crowd with a voice that seems at once rough hewn and smooth, and seems to have its own built in echo, and with songs full of stories and character. It’s not as if Whiskeytown as a band were lacking these elements, but when Adams can focus on one voice and one guitar, the results are stunning.

Adams told stories between songs that could have been songs themselves. He told the crowd of a rowdy old lady he spent most of a day with on a train, and how he discovered the chords for “My Winding Wheel” playing in a U-Haul. He also revealed a bent toward metal, claiming he always wanted to see Slayer’s South of Heaven done as an acoustic stage show. “Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)” and “Come Pick Me Up” were barren and beautiful.

On the last night, just a little bit of the old Adams showed up as the crowd at the bar by the door started to get too loud. The performance space is up a short flight of stairs from the bar and separated by half a wall. Throughout the second night, a group of folks downstairs got increasingly louder, at some points almost drowning out the music for those sitting closer to the stairs. Adams dedicated the last song before the last encore to “Alpha Beta Chi” downstairs, saying, “May you watch Friends reruns in hell forever.” He then played “Dancing With the Women at the Bar”, the only Whiskeytown tune played on either night. Not wanting to end on that note, he came back for one encore, a melancholy tune he called “Drunk Fucked Up Like the Twilight”. It was a fitting send off, leaving the crowd with a taste of what hopefully is to come, not from Ryan Adams of Whiskeytown – just Ryan Adams.

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Various Artists:
Down to the Promised Land: Five Years of Bloodshot Records (Bloodshot Records)

Alternative country has survived long enough now to pass milestones and celebrate anniversaries. No Depression marked five years of alt.country journalism with its September-October issue, and Bloodshot Records released Down to the Promised Land: Five Years of Bloodshot Records to showcase some of the best bands in the genre. Both are shining examples of why it’s tough to describe alt.country, and why the term itself might seem woefully inadequate. Does John Hiatt really have that much in common with Ryan Adams of Whiskeytown, Porter Wagoner of the Grand Ole Opry, or Emmylou Harris, all of whom are featured in the latest issue of No Depression? Probably as much as Robbie Fulks, Giant Sand, Bare Jr., The Waco Brothers, and Alejandro Escovedo have in common, and they’re all well represented on the Bloodshot disc.

If you’re new to the genre, Promised Land’s two discs’ worth of music will catch you up quickly. Stalwart punks like the Supersuckers collaborate with Amy Nelson on “The Least I Could Do”, a touching ode to a drunken one-night stand. Then there’s Alejandro Escovedo covering the Rolling Stones’ “Evening Gown”. Escovedo is an old school punk himself, having played in a band that opened for the Sex Pistols for their last pre-reunion gig. But he’s also capable of relaying incredible empathy and heartache with his voice, which helped make him No Depression’s Artist of the Decade. If you’re into a more traditional sound, skip ahead to The Handsome Family’s “I Hear A Sweet Voice Calling”. Maybe you prefer bluegrass played at blinding speeds and with a sense of humor. No problem. Try The Meat Purveyors’ “Sunshine”.

A sense of humor is especially important to the genre and to Bloodshot. That’s how Robbie Fulks’ tribute, “Bloodshot’s Turning 5”, got onto the compilation. Fulks lovingly roasts the whole concept of alt.country, and Bloodshot specifically, telling listeners to “pay their last respects before the hip quotient takes a dive”, while noting companies like Geffen and A&M bit the dust during Bloodshot’s lifetime. The Unholy Trio contribute perhaps the most puzzling piece of music to come out this year, turning the Anthrax/Public Enemy crossover tune “Bring the Noise” into a stripped-down two-stepper.

Kitsch factor aside, Promised Land offers a broad overview of No Depression music, from rockabilly and bluegrass to cow punk and country pop. There’s a little bit of tradition in every band present, and enough fire to make them sound fresh. And that’s probably as close as anyone will probably ever get to putting all of that in one collection, much less one label.

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